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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24227389">The Demon Wolf of Steelport</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMadTargaryen/pseuds/TheMadTargaryen'>TheMadTargaryen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Saints Row</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Hybrids, Monster Hunters, Not your typical Saints Row story, Saints Row The Third, Supernatural twist to it, Vampires, Werewolves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:21:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>37,166</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24227389</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMadTargaryen/pseuds/TheMadTargaryen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Saints finally have it all; fame fortune and power. But when a crime Syndicate takes it all away, the Saints do what they do best and fight to reclaim what belongs to them. With their mysterious leader, Silas Grayson, the Saints take their fight to the city of Steelport to show the Syndicate what happens when you mess the Saints and why their leader is known as the Demon Wolf.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A decade later and still having the same problems</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey everyone MadTargaryen here not with a new story but an old one that I thought I could try to bring back.</p>
<p>Being in quarantine has given me a lot of time to not only work on my current and new projects but also take a look at my old ones that I regretfully deleted a long time ago.</p>
<p>The story in question, if anyone remembers, is my Saints Row story formerly called The Monster of Steelport. It was going to be part of a Monster of Saints Row series that I was working on but never managed to finish beginning with the first Saints Row plot.</p>
<p>I recently began to replay the games which is the reason I have come back to this story. Also, I am working on other stories with my hybrid OC so my interest in this story has doubled even more. Nicole's Curse, for instance, while it is centered on a canon character, I have given her the background of my hybrid OC.</p>
<p>With my interest renewed, I am going to give this story another shot and see how it goes.</p>
<p>As the title suggests, this is going to take place during the SR3 game plot as well as have a supernatural twist to it like the original version did with the Saints leader being portrayed by my hybrid OC Silas Grayson. Originally, the OC was named Alec Grayson but I was not liking the name anymore so I decided to give him a new name as part of the changes that will be done to the story.</p>
<p>Alright, I think I have said all I needed to say for now so lets go straight to the first chapter. Enjoy and please let me know what you think.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>The Monster of Steelport</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>CH.1</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>A decade later and still the same problems</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thin rays of dusty light beamed through the broken windows of the warehouse as a group of mean-looking men carrying guns patrolled the large room as they surrounded a frightened young woman bound and gagged to a wooden chair.</p>
<p>One of the men, the leader of the group, strutted to the woman they held captive and gently caressed her tear-streaked cheeks with his rough stubby fingers. She jerked her head away but he only persisted more and moved a few strands of her sandy blonde hair behind her ear as he kneeled to her height.</p>
<p>He was ugly to look at with his flat rough stubbly looking face and when he smiled at her, he smiled a yellow toothy smile that grossed her out.</p>
<p>"Looks like no one is coming to save you," the guy sneered at her. "I guess the Saints Boss doesn't care enough for you to risk his life."</p>
<p>The woman stared angrily at the man as she struggled in her restraint. She tried to say something but the gag in her mouth kept her from saying anything coherent to her captor.</p>
<p>"Hush now, don't worry." the guy placed one of his fingers at her mouth to stop her from speaking. "we will take good care of you. You will enjoy our company...as long as you do what we say."</p>
<p>The surrounding men liked what their boss had said and high fived each other in celebration.</p>
<p>Their celebration came to a sudden halt when they heard the faint popping noise of gunfire going off beyond the walls of this room.</p>
<p>Quickly, the men readied their weapons and kept them pointed at the metal double doors ahead of them.</p>
<p>On the other side, the sound of gunfire going and the screams of the other men patrolling the warehouse became louder as the minutes passed by. It sounded like an army had invaded the warehouse and even worse, it sounded like the intruders were winning.</p>
<p>Just as quick as it began, the gunfire and screams died down until there was nothing but the sound of silence between the inhabitants of the room.</p>
<p>The ugly man stood up to full height, keeping his beady eyes fixed on the metal doors.</p>
<p>"You two," he quickly glanced at the two men to his right. "go and see what is going on out there."</p>
<p>The two men hesitated to go but nodded and made their way across the room.</p>
<p>They stopped when they reached the doors, both reluctant to open the door and see what was on the other side.</p>
<p>One of the two slowly reached out and carefully pushed down on the door handle.</p>
<p>As soon as the lock clicked, the door and the surrounding area was engulfed in a bright hot fiery explosion that sent a forceful wave through the room and knocked back anybody and anything that wasn't close enough to be burned.</p>
<p>While the men recovered from the shock of the explosion, a dark silhouette of a figure grew clearer from the smoky cloud until he stepped out and revealed to the men as the leader of the Saints, standing tall with a smirk on his handsome dirt-smeared face.</p>
<p>The entire room gawked at the intruder. This man alone took out all the men that stood between him and this room and he did it without seemingly a scratch on him.</p>
<p>Silas, the Saints leader, combed his aqua gaze around the room at the men that remained frozen in place.</p>
<p>The air was thick with tension between the inhabitants of the warehouse as they waited for who would make the next move.</p>
<p>The ugly guy flitted his eyes between his men and the Saints Boss and yelled "What are you waiting for? KILL HIM!"</p>
<p>The men quickly gained their bearings and did as they were told and started shooting at Silas.</p>
<p>Without hesitating, without a second thought, Silas ran at them as fast as he could. He was fast. Much too fast for the men to see him. Before they could even pull the trigger on their guns, Silas was already behind them and knocked two of them to the ground on their asses before they even realized what had happened.</p>
<p>One of them managed to sit back up, clearly dazed from the sudden head-spinning fall to the concrete ground. Once his sight became clearer, he had just enough time to clearly see Silas' fist coming right at him before the punch knocked him out.</p>
<p>Silas heard the bones in the man's nose and the teeth in his mouth break from the impact of his fist contacting his face. The man flew back and a thin streak of blood soon followed from his nose and mouth.</p>
<p>The other guy got up while Silas had been distracted with the first guy and charged at him with his fist ready to swing.</p>
<p>Silas sensed the attack coming without having to look back and ducked right as the fist was about to make contact with the side of his head.</p>
<p>The Saints Boss swiftly turned on the heels of his boots and grabbed the guy by the neck and tossed him across the room into a pile of empty oil drums on the other side of the room.</p>
<p>It wasn't long before he felt the electric sensation of another attack coming his way and quickly jumped out of the way before a round of bullets flew past where he had just been standing moments before.</p>
<p>The next target was a group shooting at him to his right. The group saw what he did to the other guys and decided to spread out around Silas rather than be clumped together like the others.</p>
<p>The first one Silas met with, he ran at him and grabbed the gunman's arm and snapped it upward with a resounding sound of the bone snapping from being twisted the wrong way. The sudden pain caused the man to pull the trigger on his T3K Urban and shoot his bullets at the ceiling before Silas twisted the gun downward and had the guy shoot his remaining bullets into his own foot, causing the man to fall to the ground in pain.</p>
<p>Silas picked up the weapon and charged at his next target. Since the gun had no bullets, Silas used it to hit the next guy over the head with it like a baseball bat and threw the gun at the next guy, hitting him in the face, taking out two birds with one stone.</p>
<p>The guys that were not unconscious writhed and moaned in pain while the others that could move were trying to crawl away from the fight as well.</p>
<p>"HEY!" Silas heard someone yell at him.</p>
<p>Turning around, the Saints Boss moved his glaring eyes onto the ugly guy who now held a pistol at the woman's head as he smiled a mischievous sneer curling the corners of his lips.</p>
<p>The confident smile Silas wore slowly faded to a frown as his eyes flitted between hostage and captor.</p>
<p>"You are fast, I'll give you that Saint," the captor admitted with a yellow toothy grin. "but are you fast enough to stop a point-blank shot to her pretty little head?"</p>
<p>"I don't know," Silas returned the comment.</p>
<p>The captor's smug expression quickly dropped when Silas suddenly disappeared right in front of him, in disbelief what he had just witnessed.</p>
<p>"What the—"</p>
<p>The captor felt his body suddenly twist around until he was facing the opposite direction with Silas staring back at him.</p>
<p>"I think I can be even faster."</p>
<p>"H-How did you—"</p>
<p>Before the captor could finish the sentence, the Saints Boss had snatched the gun from his hand and bent the weapon until it snapped in two and dropped them with a thud onto the ground between them.</p>
<p>The captor's eyes widened in shock as the pistol taken from his hand moments before now lied in two pieces on the concrete.</p>
<p>Silas glanced at the captor one last time before hitting the guy with enough force to send him flying through the room until he hit the wall on the other side.</p>
<p>With all the enemies disposed of and the room seemingly cleared, Silas walked over to the woman and untied her from the restraints.</p>
<p>Once freed, the woman jumped from the wooden chair and into Silas's arm and held him in a tight embrace.</p>
<p>"I knew you would come for me," she said into his shoulders as they continued to hug.</p>
<p>"Did you ever doubt for a moment I wouldn't?" he asked her with a crooked smile.</p>
<p>The woman looked up at him with a wide smile and shook her head in response.</p>
<p>"How did you manage to defeat them all?" she asked as she examined the room littered with the injured men.</p>
<p>Silas gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.</p>
<p>"Oh, just skill and—"</p>
<p>Silas turned his head to face a camera and filming crew silently watching the performance and held up a purple can with the fleur de lis symbol above the printed words SAINTS FLOW.</p>
<p>"—a can of Saints Flow to give me a boost of energy."</p>
<p>"CUT!" a loud voice yelled soon followed by a loud buzzing noise echoing through the warehouse before the clamor of voices drowned out the remaining silence as the men that were on the ground helped each other back up and wiped the fake blood from their faces and dusted off their clothes.</p>
<p>"What now?" Silas muttered an exasperated sigh. "This guy is driving me nuts!"</p>
<p>Silas turned to the lead actress and asked her "What do you think he will complain to me about this time, Jenny? Did I not turn my head fast enough or was I blinking too much?"</p>
<p>Jenny Jaros only laughed and gave a light shove to Silas's shoulder.</p>
<p>"Oh come on, he's not that bad."</p>
<p>"You only think that because he likes you better," Silas replied with a playful eye roll. "I think he's actually borderline obsessed with the way he praises you."</p>
<p>This director, Stan Rollins, was picked to be the new director of the Saints Row movie since Andy Zhen had 'accidentally' met his untimely demise on set. The producers put the movie on a temporary halt while they change things up with the movie. Ultor Corp thought it would be a good idea for Stan to direct the new Saints Flow commercials during this time that way he can get to know the Saints better and have an idea on how to direct the movie.</p>
<p>While Stan seemingly got along well with everyone, especially Jenny, unlike the previous director, Stan seemed to have a chip on his shoulder about the Saints leader himself. Silas had a strong feeling it might be the fact that he and Jenny have gone out on a few occasions since the director has shown much affection towards the leading actress.</p>
<p>"You know, I blame you for this," Silas playfully teased Jenny.</p>
<p>She looked up at him, one of her perfectly manicured eyebrow arched upward. "Oh, you do?"</p>
<p>"Of course I do. If you hadn't flown that ship into Zhen, he would still be around to direct the movie."</p>
<p>"Well, I was only taking your advice and standing up for myself," Jenny responded innocently. While Silas new Jenny was indeed a kind person, he knew that she was far from innocent after that day and knew she was indeed capable of murder when pushed to the limit. "At least this guy seems to understand that I have talent and not some Missy McNobody, as Zhen often called me."</p>
<p>"Well Zhen was wrong there."</p>
<p>"You think so?" Jenny asked him, her voice made her sound uncertain.</p>
<p>"Of course!" Silas responded, looking at her as if she asked a ridiculous question. He turned his whole toward her and placed a reassuring hand gently on her shoulder. "Jenny, you are an amazing actress and once the movie comes out and everyone sees it, that 'Missy McNobody' status will disappear and everyone will know the name Jenny Jaros."</p>
<p>Jenny smiled a wide smile at Silas listening to his words of encouragement to her. He always knew how to cheer her up.</p>
<p>"Wow, you really know how to charm a lady with just your words."</p>
<p>Silas casually gave a shrug of his shoulders and said "Just saying what I believe is true."</p>
<p>"Jenny!" the director gleefully called out the actress' name, much to the annoyance of both actors. "Jenny Jenny Jenny, you were fantastic! Your delivery was absolutely flawless and I loved it. You, my dear, are a natural!"</p>
<p>"Oh…thank you, Mr. Rollins," Jenny said rather awkwardly from the over-flattery she received from the director. "but I only had a few lines. Silas here did a-"</p>
<p>"Now now Sweetheart," the director interrupted Jenny. He placed both his hands on either side of her face, making her feel very uncomfortable by his forward touch. "What have I told you? It's Stan, none of that Mr. Rollins nonsense."</p>
<p>"Now, I know that you are still very new to the acting business but know that there is no such thing as small parts. All parts are important and yours is the most."</p>
<p>"Well actually I think Silas here actually has the most important role for the commercial," Jenny tried her best to politely correct the director. "It is a Saints Flow commercial after all and he did really great."</p>
<p>Stan turned his gaze from the actress to the leader of the Saints. The way the director stared at Silas made it perfectly clear that he did not like the Saints leader as if Silas didn't already know by how Stan treated him daily.</p>
<p>For the past month since being introduced, the director has done nothing but nitpick and criticize every little detail about Silas's acting. At first, Silas thought the guy was just a perfectionist and he was fine with that but he soon realized that the man was intentionally being an ass towards him with Silas' assumption being confirmed when Stan chewed him out for apparently not saying a line correctly but didn't bat an eye when one of the extras kept missing their mark thus ruining a days' worth of shooting.</p>
<p>"Oh…right," the director practically sneered in disdain at Silas. "Yeah, you completely screwed up that entire ending."</p>
<p>Silas closed his eyes and took a slow deep breath to calm the irritation that was slowly rising to anger. He had been rehearsing his lines and practicing his moves for two days. He knew he did the scenes perfectly but Silas knew better than to argue with the man and just agree with him.</p>
<p>"Alright Stan, what did I do wrong this time?"</p>
<p>"First, it's Mr. Rollins to you…Saint." Stan poked his stubby finger at Silas's chest. "Second, you didn't wink at the camera."</p>
<p>"What!" Silas snapped at the director.</p>
<p>"At the end," Stan answered, saying each word slowly. "You're supposed to wink at the camera after you say your lines or is that too difficult for the big bad gangster to comprehend?"</p>
<p>It has been a long time since Silas wanted to hurt someone and this guy was coming dangerously close to getting something broken if he kept antagonizing him. Yet the urge to attack the director and break his neck was still very strong however Silas had enough sense to know that it wouldn't look good for himself or the Saints if he killed someone just because they were being a prick to him.</p>
<p>"Well, I thought the wink at the end was a bit too much," Silas began to explain, hoping that for once Stan will reason with him. "So, I just thought I would—"</p>
<p>"You thought you would, what?" Stan rudely interrupted the Saints Boss. "You just thought you would go off script? Do your own thing and completely disregard what myself and the writers agreed upon?"</p>
<p>The director didn't stop there. In fact, Stan took a step closer toward Silas. While the leader of the Saints was considerably taller than him, he didn't let that stop him from trying to intimidate Silas into submission.</p>
<p>"Out there, you might be the alpha dog but in here…you're my bitch."</p>
<p>That was it, the straw that broke the camel's back. Since they met, Silas has been nothing but cordial with this guy and all he has received was insults.</p>
<p>Silas grabbed the director by the throat in a tight grip and lifted him from the ground. Everyone, including Jenny standing beside them, was shocked by the sudden action but Silas didn't care at this point. This man crossed the line and Silas couldn't take it anymore.</p>
<p>"Now that I have your undivided attention," Silas began. His voice a menacingly calm and composed tone as he stared a cold hard glare at the gagging man. "This treatment you are doing to me has to stop, here and now. You got that or else this commercial and the Saints Row movie is going to need a new director…if you catch my meaning."</p>
<p>Silas brought the director a little closer to him, their faces inches from each other.</p>
<p>"Do we have an understanding?"</p>
<p>The director couldn't make a coherent sentence but Silas relaxed his grip just enough to allow Stan to nod his head.</p>
<p>"Good!" Silas smiled at the director and released his grip on the man's neck. Stan fell on his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for the air that gradually returned to his lungs.</p>
<p>"Now, I think that a wink is a little too much, don't you think?" Silas asked Stan. "Don't you think the ending looks better without a cheesy wink?"</p>
<p>"Y-Yes, you're right," the director quickly agreed with Silas.</p>
<p>"Awesome! Then I guess we are finally done shooting the commercial?"</p>
<p>Stan nodded vigorously as a response to Silas's question.</p>
<p>"Great then I'll see you when we start shooting the movie again…Stan."</p>
<p>Silas gave Stan a quick smile and a pat on the shoulder before walking off to his personal chair on the other side of the room where Johnny and Pierce waited for him. The two got back in town a few days earlier from touring to do some promoting for the movie and their own individual projects but Silas was happy to have his friends back. He was just missing one more from his family.</p>
<p>"Jesus, for a moment there I thought you were really going to kill him," Jenny said while walking beside him.</p>
<p>"Believe me so did I," Silas admitted to her. "I'm glad I was able to hold back or else the paparazzi would've had a field day with this."</p>
<p>"Very true," Jenny giggled. She moved closer towards Silas. Her smaller soft hands gently slid up his arms and stopped at his shoulders so he could turn his body toward her. "I just hope that when we are on our date tonight…you won't hold back with me."</p>
<p>"I haven't yet, why start now?" Silas answered back, that infamous crooked smile of his returning on his lips. "Give me a couple of hours to get changed and I'll pick you up?"</p>
<p>"Can't wait." Jenny gave him a flirtatious wink and slid one of her hands from his shoulder across his broad chest as she walked away to her changing room.</p>
<p>"Damn, I thought you were going to kill that guy!" Silas heard Pierce say when he took his seat between his two friends. "Everyone would agree the fucker would have it coming to him."</p>
<p>"True, the guy is an ass," Silas said as he took a drink of water from his bottle and placed it back in the chair's cup holder. "But Gryphon would have chewed my ass and this movie would most likely be canned if another director got killed doing this movie."</p>
<p>"Man, since when did we start worrying about making Gryphon happy?" Johnny asked and tossed the magazine he was reading onto the floor.</p>
<p>From the tone of voice, Silas knew Johnny was clearly pissed off and that was not a good sign.</p>
<p>"We're not," Silas stated. "But Gryphon and Ultor invested a lot of money on this movie and this director to make it a blockbuster hit. So, for now, we just have to be patient with this guy and play nice for a while longer."</p>
<p>"Are you sure about that Boss?" Johnny asked him. "Because lately, all we have been doing is a bunch of ass-kissing for a bunch of douchebags and publicity shit for money that we can easily get by stealing from banks. I mean, are we even the same Saints anymore?"</p>
<p>"Yes, we are," Silas told his friend. "Johnny, we have total control of Stilwater now. The people love us for what we have done with the city and unless some gang comes around causing trouble, we have no reason to fight."</p>
<p>"Then we expand," Johnny suggested. The sudden suggestion caught Silas off guard.</p>
<p>"What?" was all Silas could say at the ridiculous idea. This certainly came out of nowhere.</p>
<p>"Come on!" Johnny said excitedly. "it'll be fun, like old times! We go to a city, any nearby city and put our name all over so people will know we own them."</p>
<p>"Johnny, our name is already everywhere," Silas told him. "Our name, our faces, are on every single billboard around the world. Believe me, people know who we are."</p>
<p>"I mean as a gang, not a fuckin' brand." Johnny corrected him. "I want us to take over a city by ACTUALLY taking over the city. We go there with our soldiers and take out their gangs and set up shop just like we did here in Stilwater five years ago."</p>
<p>Silas couldn't help but chuckle at the ludicrous idea that Johnny was proposing. He should have realized that this is what has been bothering Johnny. The man's trigger finger has been itching him for a while now and in truth, Silas himself has been feeling a bit restless these past few months but since the movie began shooting and the Paparazzi been hanging around their homes and following them, Silas hasn't been able to…wolf out for a while and had to cage himself instead of going out and hunting around Mt. Claflin like he usually did. However, Silas knew that he couldn't agree to go along with Johnny's crazy idea.</p>
<p>"Johnny, we can't just go into any random city and attack them unprovoked like some foreign invaders." Silas calmly explained to his second. Johnny, however, didn't seem to like that his Boss wasn't going along with it. "Besides, expanding our territory might not be a good thing right now. Expansion could lead to our downfall. I've seen it happen."</p>
<p>"Yeah, weren't you there when the Roman Empire fell?" Pierce chimed in with a smile when he glanced at Silas before turning to Johnny. "He's right though, Johnny. Do you realize how the press will take this if we attack another city without provocation?"</p>
<p>"Man, I don't give a fuck about the press or how they take this!" Johnny exclaimed in irritation and stood up from his chair. "We are a gang, not some fuckin' business. We need to start acting like a gang again!"</p>
<p>Silas stood up as well and faced Johnny, the two of them at equal height.</p>
<p>"We are still a gang Johnny," Silas assured his friend. "That hasn't changed."</p>
<p>"Really?" Johnny took a step closer to Silas as if claiming dominance over his best friend. "Is that why we have been attacked three times already in the past two months?"</p>
<p>"How did you know about that?" Silas asked in shock that Johnny knew about that since he and Johnny have been gone for nearly half a year on tour. It was true though. The Saints have been attacked a few times since the Lieutenants were absent from the city. Two drive-byes and a shootout in a Planet Saints did, in fact, occur in the city by unknown assailants, Silas tried his best with Troy Bradshaw to keep things low key as much as possible until he could figure out who was doing the attacking and if it was even gang-related or something more personal. The Venatore, an ancient order that hunts the supernatural, was out there and they want nothing more than to kill Silas as they have for centuries and will do whatever it takes to get him.</p>
<p>"Silas, we might've been outta the city for a while but that doesn't mean we haven't been in touch with the rest of our boys." Johnny responded coldly. "I just wished that we heard it from you instead."</p>
<p>"For what Johnny? So you could come back to Stilwater and fight this enemy? The reason I haven't told you guys what happened because the last attack happened two weeks before you guys showed up. I haven't said anything because I don't know if what happened was even gang-related or personal and I haven't acted yet because whoever did this made sure they were untraceable, leaving myself and Troy with no leads to go off from so forgive me if I didn't want to start a war when I don't even know who's the enemy!"</p>
<p>"That doesn't change the fact that someone out there is causing problems for us and we need to go out looking for them before they do something worse," Johnny told Silas, the tense hostility between the two friends still thick in the air around them. "Since we became…whatever this shit is…people have been saying we've gone soft. We need to let the world know that the Saints are still the same gang as before."</p>
<p>Silas took another step closer, now inches away from Johnny and glared at his second with a cold stern gaze.</p>
<p>"I am not going to attack when I don't know who our enemy is." Silas asserted himself to Johnny. It was very rare if at all that he had to talk to his best friend like this but lately, Johnny has been so moody and a tad defiant towards Silas when it came to business with Ultor. Silas practically forced Johnny to go on this tour with Pierce to promote the movie.</p>
<p>Silas calmed himself and took a few steps away from Johnny to give him some space.</p>
<p>"Look, I'm sorry for not telling you guys but I was handling it the way I thought would be best," he explained to them. "I'm just trying to avoid a panic in the city and it's not like I haven't forgotten what happened or ignoring it. I have our tech guys working around the clock trying to find anything and our soldiers are on high alert for anything that's suspicious. If they attack again, we'll be ready."</p>
<p>Pierce nodded in acceptance. Johnny however, was more reluctant to accept. Silas knew he had to make peace with him. Johnny is his best friend and he doesn't want to be on bad terms with him.</p>
<p>"Johnny, I promise if something comes up and we find who's doing this, we will make them pay." Silas assured him confidently and held out his hand for Johnny. "We will show them what happens when you attack the Saints."</p>
<p>Johnny only stared with a hardened expression as he listened to Silas's promise. Gradually, a small smile cracked the frown and Johnny took Silas's extended hand to shake in agreement. Now that the two were once again in agreement, for now at least, Silas felt he could relax as the tension waned away between the men.</p>
<p>Pierce walked over in between Silas and Johnny and placed both of his arms around their shoulders.</p>
<p>"Great, now that you two have kissed and made up," Pierce said as he led them across the warehouse floor. "let's get out of here and get ready for tonight! I'm ready to down some beers and school all y'all at pool."</p>
<p>"Oh, I can't hang out tonight," Silas announced to the two and released himself from Pierce's arm to face them.</p>
<p>"What do you mean you can't hang out tonight?" Pierce asked, sounding incredulous at the response.</p>
<p>"I have a date tonight with Jenny," Silas explained to them. "I can't bail on her so soon. We can just go to a bar another night."</p>
<p>"This isn't just any night Boss," Pierce told him. "Shaundi's coming home tonight and we wanted to celebrate since we're all home."</p>
<p>"WHAT!" Silas yelled in shock. He had completely forgotten that Shaundi was arriving today, even more so that he was supposed to pick her up from the airport. "Oh my god!"</p>
<p>"Did you forget that Shaundi was coming back a couple of weeks early?" Johnny snickered at Silas's fail to remember this important day. "Man, she is going to be pissed."</p>
<p>"That's right, I can't believe I forgot! Shaundi's coming back early from shooting her show." Silas let out a loud frustrated sigh and covered his face with his hand as he was suddenly reminded of the plans they made. He stopped in tracks when he suddenly remembered something else important.</p>
<p>"Oh shit! I promised to pick her up from the airport!" Silas pulled out his phone to check the time. "What time is her flight supposed to arrive?"</p>
<p>"Uhh…I think the plane is supposed to land around five five-thirty," Pierce answered while the three of them quickly marched to Silas's dressing room.</p>
<p>"Okay that gives me enough time to change and get to the airport," Silas said when he opened his dressing room door. Walking across the room, he began to strip off his outfit and jumped into the shower to wash off the fake blood and any other makeup added for the commercial.</p>
<p>After a few minutes of hard scrubbing, Silas jumped out of the shower and quickly dried himself and dressed in his street clothes and jogged his way through the commercial set to get to his car outside of the warehouse and drove through the streets as fast as he could without getting pulled over and made his way across town to the airport.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Twenty minutes later.</strong>
</p>
<p>Silas slowed his customized Bootlegger into a parking spot in the International airport area and got out to go into the large building.</p>
<p>On his way to the gate, Silas had a few moments to spare and stopped at the souvenir shop and purchased a small bouquet of different colored flowers. He wanted to gift Shaundi with something when she comes back home and also use it as a way to apologize for bailing out on their celebration later on.</p>
<p>Coming up to the designated gate, he could see the large group of fans already waiting for Shaundi to arrive so they could get a picture and autograph from her. A majority of them held up signs saying MARRY ME SHAUNDI or I LOVE YOU SHAUNDI, though quite a few said some rather inappropriate things as well. This wasn't an unusual occurrence for the Saints Boss and his Lieutenants. Since becoming famous, it has become virtually impossible to go anywhere without being hounded by fans wanting to be noticed by them. It honestly surprised Silas at the positive attention they were getting from people considering they were a street gang. While they were indeed a badass group of good looking gangsters, it was probably a plus for them when Silas started using the money they earned to help renovate Stilwater and clean up the streets.</p>
<p>Not wanting to draw attention from the crowd, Silas decided to stay in the back and wait for the doors at the gate to open.</p>
<p>Of all three of his Lieutenants, Shaundi had changed the most. She had come a long way in the past five years since she joined the newly revived Saints. It honestly astounded Silas how she went from being the Bohemian stoner chick who was known for sleeping with half of the male population in Stilwater to becoming one of his best lieutenants. She completely changed her laid-back look and dressed more professionally. She did not fully kick her drug habit but greatly decreased the weed-smoking to a minimum, though sometimes sober Shaundi could be a bit of a bitch to everyone, including Silas but he didn't take it too heart. He was proud of her and the strong badass she has become.</p>
<p>It wasn't a long wait before the crowd began to stir and soon the doors opened and Shaundi walked through. As Silas scanned through the crowd, he could see Shaundi walking through the throng of men calling out to her. She had on a pair of dark sunglasses with a wide lens to cover the eyes completely. She wore a small black leather jacket over a purple tank top and tight black jeans with a pair of tall black heels that clicked with every step she took on the white tiled floor toward the baggage claim.</p>
<p>The crowd tried to follow her but the security guards held them back, much to their disappointment and most likely her pleasure. At first, Shaundi liked the attention of the fans but after a while it quickly waned and became nothing more than an annoyance since she couldn't go anywhere without men asking for a photo with the Saints 'sex symbol'.</p>
<p>Playing on her irritation of the fans, Silas thought of a good idea and began walking up behind her.</p>
<p>"Excuse…excuse me?" Silas said in a nasally nerdy voice. "can I have your autograph? I'm a huge fan!"</p>
<p>Shaundi gave an annoyed sigh but had yet to stop and turn around when she responded back to the request.</p>
<p>"Sorry but I am very jet-lagged right now and just want to get my luggage uninterrupted if you don't mind."</p>
<p>"But I am your biggest fan!" Silas continued to pester her with a wide smile. "Can I at least cop a feel?"</p>
<p>That last comment made Shaundi stop in her tracks. Silas knew she was pissed now.</p>
<p>"Listen, asshole…" Shaundi turned around before she could finish that sentence and found herself staring at her Boss. Silas was right, she was very pissed by the scrunched up look on her gorgeous face until she saw that it was him joking with her.</p>
<p>A big smile spread across her gorgeous sun-tanned face as she walked over to Silas and gave him a tight warm hug that he reciprocated and wrapped his arms around her as well.</p>
<p>"You really are an asshole, you know that." Shaundi said as the two broke from the embrace.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I have been told that from time to time," he chuckled and handed her the bouquet of flowers he purchased for her. "Welcome home."</p>
<p>"Aww Silas," She said with a smile as she took the colorful array of flowers. "Thank you, they're beautiful!"</p>
<p>"No problem. Come on, let's get your bags and take you home."</p>
<p>Silas led the way to the baggage claim and helped Shaundi carry her luggage to his car. On the way, he asked her about her time in Mexico and the guys that were picked as contestants for her show. Shaundi loved being in Mexico, she loved the beaches, the cities they visited and the people they met and especially the food but she absolutely detested the guys that were picked to be on her show and called them wannabe frat boy rejects.</p>
<p>"I mean honestly, why don't the producers pick better guys than those douchebags? Shaundi sighed in exasperation that Silas couldn't help but laugh. He remembered telling her when the idea of this show would be a bad idea and how excited she was to have her own show. He had watched enough of these type of shows to know what kind of guy's the producers go for, the type that adds to the hype and drama to keep people watching. "I mean, why couldn't they add more guys like you?"</p>
<p>"What? Like dangerous gang leaders vying for your affections?" Silas smiled a light chuckle at the comment as the two crossed the walkway that connected the airport to the parking lot and walked through the parking lot to Silas's car. "There would be a fight breaking out every night and I don't think the show's insurance will cover the damages. I think the fight between those two guys was barely covered."</p>
<p>"Oh my God! Don't even remind me of those two assholes ever again!" Shaundi moaned while Silas laughed. He remembered the late-night call from Shaundi telling him of the fight that broke out between two of the contestants that ended up with them getting kicked out of the resort they were staying at and having to pay for the fire damages and the two guys not only getting kicked off the show but getting sent to the hospital to treat their injuries. After that incident, the rest of the show went on but with new rules, the main one being the limit of alcohol consumption since that was one of the reasons for the fight, much to the irritation from Shaundi, and to have more security at hand to quickly stop the fisticuffs before it gets out of hand."</p>
<p>The two finally made it to the Bootlegger and Silas popped open the trunk to load Shaundi's baggage while she situated herself in the passenger seat.</p>
<p>Once all the baggage was loaded and Silas sat in the driver seat, he started the car and drove out of the parking lot and into the streets of Stilwater once again.</p>
<p>"It's nice to be back in Stilwater," Shaundi said as she looked out the passenger window. Silas slowed the car as he came to a halt in the front of Shaundi's apartment building. "Home sweet home."</p>
<p>She turned her gaze to Silas. "I can't wait to hang out tonight. I have been looking forward to this night for a long time. Just you me Johnny and Pierce, like old times."</p>
<p>This was the conversation he was dreading. As much as he wanted to hang out with his friends, he knew he couldn't and had to tell her. Silas knows Shaundi isn't going to take this very well.</p>
<p>"Uh Shaundi," Silas began. "There's something I have to tell you."</p>
<p>"What is it?" She asked curiously when she noticed the hesitation in his tone.</p>
<p>"Look, I am so sorry but I have been swamped with a whole bunch of things that I completely forgot about tonight and had made plans to do something else."</p>
<p>For a moment, Shaundi didn't say anything but just stared at Silas, almost as if confused.</p>
<p>"Okay, then just cancel those plans and come to the bar," Shaundi said nonchalantly as she opened the door to get out.</p>
<p>"Shaundi, I can't just cancel my plans," he told her. "I...I have a date."</p>
<p>Shaundi stopped halfway through the doorway of the car and sat back down into the black leather seat.</p>
<p>"A date? With whom?" she asked after a few moments of silence between the two of them.</p>
<p>"It's with Jenny."</p>
<p>Shaundi stared at him as if baffled by the answer then burst into a fit of laughter, something that caught him off guard.</p>
<p>"Are you serious?" Shaundi said through her laughter. "Jenny? That girl from the movie? I can't believe you are bailing to go on a date with that girl!"</p>
<p>"She's not that bad, Shaundi." Silas said in Jenny's defense. "And I'm not bailing. I just accidentally made plans over this one is all."</p>
<p>"Yeah whatever," Shaundi replied coldly before opening the door again to get out.</p>
<p>"Hey," Silas called out and reached out, lightly holding on to her slim arm. Shaundi paused and sat back down but refused to look at Silas and instead kept her eyes focused at the scenery in front of them. "To make it up to you, how about we spend the whole day together? Just you and me?"</p>
<p>Shaundi turned to face him, looking at Silas with scrutiny.</p>
<p>"You serious?" She asked him, hesitant to believe him. "The whole day?"</p>
<p>Silas nodded and said, "Yup, the whole day with just you and me and whatever you want to do."</p>
<p>"What if we just play skeeball all day?"</p>
<p>"Then we play skeeball all day," Silas chuckled, receiving a smile from Shaundi. "Like I said, whatever you want to do."</p>
<p>"Alright then," Shaundi answered him. She leaned close to him and gave him a quick chaste peck on the corner of his lips before getting out of the car. "It's a date."</p>
<p>Silas nodded and got out of the car to help Shaundi with her bags.</p>
<p>Once the last one made its way into her apartment, Silas made his way back to his car and drove off into the city to get ready for his date night.</p>
<p>
  <strong>xXx</strong>
</p>
<p>Silas slowed his car as he drove into the parking lot of the Bainbridge tower in the Downtown district and took the elevator up to his loft.</p>
<p>The Saints boss opened the front door to his expansive loft and crossed the main room to the staircase that led to the bedroom. Walking across the large room, passing his big comfy bed and spacious square jacuzzi tub, Silas made his way toward his closet to pick out an outfit for the evening.</p>
<p>Looking in the mirror, Silas examined the outfit he picked as he wore it; a grey slate-colored suit and a dark purple dress shirt that he was buttoning up, leaving the top two buttons undone. He thought about wearing a tie but figured it was too formal to wear. Silas slipped on a pair of black leather dress shoes as he adjusted the expensive watch on his wrist.</p>
<p>Once he was done suiting up, Silas primped himself up one last time, tousling his brown hair a bit and seeing if there was anything else he needed to fix before he left.</p>
<p>When he deemed himself presentable, Silas turned on his heels and made his way downstairs and out the front door to meet with Jenny at the hotel by the airport to go on their date.</p>
<p>Unknown to him, a red and black Infuego with dark tinted windows was parked across the street as it had been done the past few months. The people within watched the Saints Boss closely, their hardened gaze followed his car as it drove down the road and disappeared in the sea of traffic.</p>
<p>
  <strong>xXx</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Patron Saints night club and bar (Formerly Glitz night club)</strong>
</p>
<p>"I can't believe he bailed on us!" Shaundi exclaimed while Pierce took his turn at the pool table. The white ball hit his blue-striped ball and sent it rolling to the left corner pocket. "We had this day planned weeks ago!"</p>
<p>Johnny could only watch and listen as Shaundi ranted on about Silas and how mad she was at him for the date he was on. It wasn't hard to tell that Shaundi was clearly upset but it was clearly out of jealousy as opposed to anger. He knew that Shaundi was crushing on the Boss, she has been for years. The way she was with Silas was very different than it was with him or Pierce or any other guy for that matter. With Silas though, she seemed more…herself. Not what the world saw her as, the Saints sex symbol or the stoner hippy she used to be but Shaundi, the fun Skeeball-loving Badass lady Lieutenant of the Saints.</p>
<p>"How long has he been going out with her anyway?" Johnny heard Shaundi asked suddenly. "He hasn't said anything during our calls a while back."</p>
<p>"They've been going out on dates for a few weeks now," Johnny responded as he leaned his arm onto the bar countertop and took a sip of his cold beer from the dark brown bottle. "But it ain't serious if that's what you're asking."</p>
<p>"What makes you think that's what I'm asking?" she asked, almost sounding a bit offended at the comment.</p>
<p>Both Johnny and Pierce burst into laughter at Shaundi's rather faux obliviousness at their assumption.</p>
<p>"Girl, you have been talking nonstop about Silas and Jenny since we got here and that's been like…" Pierce glanced at his platinum watch. "over two hours now! Damn girl!"</p>
<p>"Pierce, shut the fuck up." Shaundi sniped that only made Pierce snigger as he stepped away from the pool table to get a drink and let Shaundi take her turn at the pool table.</p>
<p>"So, what makes you think it isn't serious?" she casually asked while she line her shot.</p>
<p>Johnny knew she couldn't resist.</p>
<p>"Well, aside from the fact they are only going out as a publicity stunt for the movie," Johnny started, catching a brief hint of a smile on Shaundi's face before it disappeared when she took her shot. "Silas doesn't 'do' serious dating. At least not anymore."</p>
<p>"Our boy likes to play the field." Pierce chimed in with a smirk. "Just like me. I have to keep myself available for all them fine women."</p>
<p>Johnny and Shaundi looked at Pierce that said, 'yeah right' before continuing with the conversation.</p>
<p>"When was the last time Silas had a girlfriend?" Shaundi asked Johnny when she took a seat beside the counter.</p>
<p>"Fuck, that has to have been about…ten years ago I think," Johnny answered Shaundi's question, leaving her looking shocked at the information. Johnny forgot that Shaundi and Pierce don't really know much about their Boss before he became the leader of the Saints. Silas didn't like to talk much about the past, especially his past, even more so if it was a painful one and this one was considered a painful memory for him.</p>
<p>"Who was she?"</p>
<p>Johnny turned to Shaundi and could see the curiousness in her expression. Even Pierce stopped playing pool and returned to the counter as well and ordered himself another beer to listen in on the conversation. There really wasn't a lot that Silas had told Pierce and Shaundi these past five years except for the basics and the most important piece of information about what he is. Aside from that though, they only knew a few tidbits here and there, just stuff he would occasionally let slip. Even Johnny didn't know that much more than Pierce and Shaundi.</p>
<p>But this topic, he knew well as he was around when it went down.</p>
<p>"Her name was Lin," Johnny answered rather shortly. Like Silas, this wasn't a memory that he wanted to remember either. Lin was like a sister to him. When she died, he took it really hard. He couldn't remember ever crying that much when he found out what happened to her.</p>
<p>"Lin?" Pierce repeated. "That chick from the Saints way back?"</p>
<p>"You know about her?" Johnny queried at Pierce.</p>
<p>"Well, sorta," Pierce admitted to the two. "Some of my boys were part of the racing scene way back and always talked about how this tough Asian chick named Lin kept beating them. There were rumors that she was part of the Saints but no one really knew until after she died."</p>
<p>"She died!" Shaundi exclaimed as she stared wide-eyed at Johnny and Pierce.</p>
<p>Johnny shot a glaring look at Pierce for his not-so-tactful response.</p>
<p>"Was it…was it because of…Silas?" Shaundi asked Johnny. "that she…"</p>
<p>Johnny understood right away where Shaundi was going with her question.</p>
<p>"No," he assured her. "No, the Boss was always very careful about that side of him with her. Lin died at the hands of the leader of the Rollerz. He found out she was working undercover and fucking up their plans so he… he shot her. The Boss had got captured too trying to rescue her and was shot as well and left to die in the trunk of her car that that fucker Sharp rolled into the river. Silas managed to open the trunk and swam to the river bank carrying Lin and tried to resuscitate her but...it was too late."</p>
<p>Johnny turned to Shaundi and Pierce. The two of them stood in silence as they processed this new information about their Boss.</p>
<p>"Man, that's some really fucked up shit right there," Pierce said after downing the remnants of his beer. "Did he ever get the guy?"</p>
<p>"Oh yeah!" Johnny chuckled, glad to be moving on from the painful memory of Lin and on to the revenge part. "The Boss laid waste to that fucker's gang and made Sharp suffer for what he did to Lin."</p>
<p>The smirk Johnny had gradually relaxed as he remembered what happened after the William Sharp debacle. How Silas let himself become the very thing he hated, that vile soulless monster Daemon and ran rampant through the city until he got caught in that explosion on the Alderman Hughes Yacht that put him in a coma for the next five years. Whatever happened in that coma, seemed to have brought Silas back by the time he woke up.</p>
<p>"Anyway, enough about sad shit," Johnny said and sat up from the counter to take his turn at the pool table. "We came here for a good time and that's what we're gonna do."</p>
<p>Johnny leaned forward on the pool table and lined his shot before hitting the white ball in the direction he wanted it to go.</p>
<p>"Pierce, say goodbye to that 10k of yours."</p>
<p>
  <strong>xXx</strong>
</p>
<p>The cool evening was like any other in the city of Stilwater. Bright and alive. Even now so late at night, the city was brighter, more alive now than it is during the day.</p>
<p>High above the busy streets of the Downtown District, Alec Silas stood out on the balcony of his loft atop the high-rise. His partially robed body leaned forward against the cold black metal railing as he stared out at the vastness of the city. His city.</p>
<p>Stilwater has changed into a completely different city since the Saints took power five years ago. No longer was it this dangerous battered gangland of decrepit bullet-riddled buildings with streets filled with the impoverished and undesirables walking about.</p>
<p>No, once Silas took power he decided he was going to clean up this city. Silas had the funding with the virtually limitless fortune he achieved in his eighteen hundred years of life, he only needed the permission of the Mayor to do so. Sure, he could have just done the rebuilding without the permission of the mayor but he wanted to turn a new leaf with the saints and have them be protectors of the city rather than the thugs people thought they were. However, if the mayor didn't give them permission, then he was going to do it anyway. That would be plan B.</p>
<p>With the aid of the then Mayor, Monica Hughes, who surprisingly accepted the offer because of her hatred for Ultor for taking the ideas of her late husband and taking all the credit, as well as no money was coming from the city's pocket but from Silas, they redeveloped Stilwater into a beautiful cosmopolitan city with new tall buildings dotting the business districts and refurbished the impoverished districts with new homes and buildings. Eventually expanding the style of the Mission Beach district all over the city.</p>
<p>Rather than get rid of the undesirables as Vogel had wanted, and what Monica Hughes had proposed in the beginning, Silas wanted to help them. He created more homeless shelters and rehabilitation centers with better facilities that he provided funding himself and made sure they got the best care available. The only thing he required of the people that stayed was that they fill in the job applications provided so that they can live on their own and become upstanding members of society. This ultimately brought down the homeless and unemployment rate down to an all-time low in decades. Even the war on drugs was turning in their favor since the Saints had control of the trade in the city. Though Hughes wanted to get rid of drugs completely, the two came to terms when Silas agreed that they would get rid of the hard stuff as long as the Saints continued to have full control of the prostitution business in the city. After all, they were still a gang. Monica reluctantly agreed when Silas told her that this would drop the number of pimps in the city but only accepted under the guidelines the women were not working on the streets. This ultimately created the business of high-end Call Girls and escort services for the Saints that they prospered greatly from.</p>
<p>Silas' work didn't stop there. With his funding, Stilwater now has two more hospitals to add to the newly redesigned current hospitals the city already has. Parks have also been built around the city. The one that had been built in the Row during Vogel's reign had been renamed from Ultor park to Saints Row park, as it should have been in the beginning.</p>
<p>All in all under the Saints and Monica Hughes reign, Stilwater prospered greatly… until Ultor Corp returned to Stilwater.</p>
<p>Monica Hughes had left for a Senator seat in Washington and not long after did Ultor send their new Head of Special Projects, Eric Gryphon, to Stilwater. At first, the Saints thought Ultor was coming back to retake the city, however, rather than take the city, Gryphon offered an alliance instead; Ultor is allowed back into the city to conduct business and in return, the Saints become partners and work with Ultor.</p>
<p>This alliance also included garnering international fame and most of all fortune. Ultor promised they would spread the Saints name beyond the city limits of Stilwater and make each of them known across the globe and indeed they have. Within a few short years, everyone around the world knew the Saints and wanted to meet them. They had merchandise being sold in stores. Hell, they even got their own chain of stores around the world with people wearing the Saints colors and symbols. It seemed all was going well for the Saints, then news of this 'friendship' made its way to the DC area and not long after, Monica Hughes herself who was, to say the very least, extremely pissed off.</p>
<p>When the Senator contacted Silas, he tried his best to explain to her that Ultor was trying to help and with the Saints in the fold, they also have a say in what the company does in the city. However, Hughes refused to understand and severed her ties with the Saints. She even took it a step further and began a crusade on gang violence in America.</p>
<p>Hughes tried to start her war with the Saints, however with all the good they've done for Stilwater and their international fame and huge fan base, Monica was quickly losing support for her witch hunt on the Saints and came to another unwavering truce to leave the Saints alone.</p>
<p>It was funny to Silas that all of this happened because it was never Silas's intention to join the Saints, let alone lead them. No, his plan was to lay low for a while and remain invisible in this city. He wasn't even supposed to stay in the city for long, just enough to keep the hunters looking for him off his trail. Yet here he is, still in Stilwater ten years later. This city has grown on him unlike any other city that he's lived in before. The Saints, Johnny, Shaundi and even Pierce have become his family and he just couldn't walk away from them.</p>
<p>Now here he is, at the top. No longer having to fight just to survive as he had been doing these last eighteen hundred years. No more running away from his problems anymore.</p>
<p>Silas has everything he could ever want. Yet, he was still missing something.</p>
<p>In his eighteen hundred years of life, Silas only had one true love; Aelia.</p>
<p>Silas shifted in his spot on the balcony as he thought about her. Aelia was his soulmate, the one he was supposed to be with forever. However, fate being the cruel bitch that she is, took her away from him, leaving him alone to live in the world for eternity with only the memories of what he used to have.</p>
<p>Finally, after centuries of being alone, Silas met someone that made him feel a little bit of what he used to have with Aelia.</p>
<p>Silas smiled as he thought of Lin. She reminded him so much of Aelia; tough sexy and smart, it made it difficult for him not to fall for her, even more so when she wholeheartedly accepted him for what he really is, a monster.</p>
<p>Then fate stepped in once again and took Lin from his as well, taking whatever was left of his broken heart to her grave.</p>
<p>Since then, he remained closed off and decided to stay away from pursuing any relationships and put his time into work instead.</p>
<p>Though he did not seek any more relationships, Silas did not stop seeking the comfort of women from time to time and occasionally went out on dates but nothing happened beyond one night stands. Silas figure it was for the best. His life was dangerous. He was too dangerous.</p>
<p>What he has with Jenny is all a publicity stunt and Jenny understood that, making it nice to have intimacy without attachments.</p>
<p>The cool air was comforting to feel on his bare chest after a particularly warm day. However, something seemed off. He didn't know why but something felt different, like a change in the air just before a big storm that left his body tingling all over. Something was going to happen, soon. He could feel it coming and it made him feel restless.</p>
<p>"Silas?"</p>
<p>Before he could respond to his name, a pair of soft slender hands from Jenny gently wrapped around his waist and connected at his stomach.</p>
<p>"Hey, you." Silas smiled and placed his right hand over hers, his much larger hand completely covered her own. "I thought you were asleep."</p>
<p>Jenny slid herself so that she was hugging him from his side and rested her head against his shoulder. In all honesty, her closeness to him felt too…close, like she already thought of him as a boyfriend which he didn't want. This whole dating thing was just a publicity stunt for the movie at the request, more of a demand, by Ultor and the production company.</p>
<p>"I was but then I noticed you weren't in bed."</p>
<p>She looked up at him with her soft blue eyes, her loose silky blonde-haired danced in the cool breeze.</p>
<p>"What's wrong?" She asked him, her voice laced with concern for him.</p>
<p>"Nothing, I'm fine," Silas assured her with his infamous crooked smile. "I'm just feeling a bit restless is all. Come on, let's get back inside."</p>
<p>Turning away from the cityscape, Silas led Jenny back into the loft and to his bedroom.</p>
<p>
  <strong>xXx</strong>
</p>
<p>The bright rays of the morning sun shined through the open windows as Silas sat in the kitchen and drank his special blend of his blood coffee and read the newspaper.</p>
<p>The rest of the night Silas tossed and turned, not being able to sleep. He couldn't shake that feeling he felt, that feeling that something was going to happen. That feeling left him restless to the point he could no longer lie in his bed and decided to get up even though it was still dark out but looking at the time on the clock showed him the night was going to end in a matter of a couple of hours and decided to quietly leave his bed once more and not wake the sleeping Jenny.</p>
<p>Silas took a sip of the hot drink and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the taste. The coffee was soothing to him and sated that hunger that nagged at him. It helped that he no longer drank animal blood, not since he made arrangements with a few of the workers at some of the blood banks and hospitals around Stilwater to pass over a bit of their inventory of blood in exchange for money.</p>
<p>Silas scanned through the world news section of the paper when he heard the doors of the elevator slide open and the sound of heels clicking against the wood flooring soon followed, giving Silas an indication of who it could be without having to look up from the paper.</p>
<p>"I smell a fresh pot of coffee," Shaundi said as she made a beeline for the counter that held the coffee maker and got herself a mug from the cabinets. "I don't have any at home and am in desperate need."</p>
<p>Silas rolled his eyes. "You know there's a Grinders coffee shop on every corner between here and your apartment."</p>
<p>"I know, but you make better coffee." Shaundi smiled playfully as she sat down across from him and took a sip of the hot beverage. "The Baristas at those coffee shops can never make a decent cup of coffee and they are always ogling me and asking me out. Like I really want to deal with that first thing in the morning."</p>
<p>Silas chuckled as he took a sip from his own coffee and flipped the page.</p>
<p>Shaundi took the remote control for the kitchen TV and turned it on and began flipping through channels. Here and there, Silas could hear snippets from commercials or shows as Shaundi tried to find something to watch.</p>
<p>"Hey, your favorite show is on." Shaundi announced to Silas with a teasing smile on her beautiful face.</p>
<p>Silas looked up and rolled his eyes as he caught a glimpse of the show Nyteblade. God, did he hate that show and the actor playing Nyteblade himself.</p>
<p>That show is asinine, I can't believe how popular it is." Silas commented about the show.</p>
<p>"Vampires and Werewolves are hot." Shaundi responded to his comment with a light chuckle. Unknown to Silas, Shaundi eyed him dreamily. "Can you blame them, with all those romance novels about that hunky supernatural guy falling in love with an ordinary girl? It would make any girl swoon."</p>
<p>"It's because they don't know any better." Silas countered knowingly. "They don't understand how dangerous we actually are. Those books and shows depict us as misunderstood romantics."</p>
<p>"Are you joking?" Shaundi laughed at him. "You basically described yourself, you know that right?"</p>
<p>Silas waved her off with a smile. "Whatever."</p>
<p>The two of them turned their attention back to the television and continued to watch the bad acting of Josh Birk as he attempted to play a wannabe hunter turned vampire. The guy vastly over-exaggerated his portrayal of a vampire. How this show became so popular Silas will never know.</p>
<p>"I still can't believe the director picked that guy to be in the movie." Shaundi pointed to the lead actor that was making a total ass of himself. "Are we still taking him on that bank heist were doing?"</p>
<p>Silas nodded his head and Shaundi groaned in annoyance. The idea of Josh Birk joining in the film was an idea of Andy Zhen's that they had hoped died along with him but when Stan Rollins took the helm, he liked the idea and decided to keep Birk in the film rather than scrap the character.</p>
<p>"He called the other day and said he was looking forward to the experience and something about helping with his method acting."</p>
<p>Birk had been pestering Gryphon to get Silas' number and has since been texting him and calling him on nearly a daily basis, something that Silas had been adamant to keep a secret from the annoying actor but Gryphon couldn't stand the pestering and being the messenger between the two so he gave the actor the number to call Silas directly. An unforgivable act.</p>
<p>Now, the actor wanted to come to Stilwater and do a bank heist with the gang to know what to expect when they begin filming.</p>
<p>"Ugh whatever," Shaundi rolled her eyes. "Just remind him to sign a waiver in case he shoots himself."</p>
<p>Silas chuckled as he turned the page.</p>
<p>"I know Johnny has been looking forward to this heist. He's been planning it ever since I told him. I haven't seen him this excited in a long time."</p>
<p>"Same here," Shaundi replied as she placed her hot mug on the tabletop. "It'll be nice to get back to our roots again. Good times."</p>
<p>"Yeah, good times." Silas chuckled and went back to his newspaper. "So, I am surprised to see you up so early. Usually, your jet lag lasts for a week, at least. I figured you wanted to start our day together a little later."</p>
<p>"I wanted to make sure I get the most out of our day together." Shaundi responded.</p>
<p>Actually I came by here because I wanted to ask you something," she continued, sounding nervous. Silas looked up from the newspaper, his aqua-colored eyes locked on to her beautiful hazel browns to give her his full attention. "There's a new restaurant that just opened up and I was wondering if you wanted—"</p>
<p>Shaundi suddenly stopped in mid-sentence when she heard the creaking of his bedroom door open. <em>Oh shit, </em>was what he thought to himself as Jenny walked down the staircase, her hair still wet from the shower she took and wore one of his button-downs.</p>
<p>Shaundi glanced at the girl then glared at him. She always seemed to hate seeing the girls he dated and then get pissed at him for some reason. Silas wasn't blind. He understood that Shaundi had a crush on him and it made him feel bad that he couldn't reciprocate those feelings in return. These women, they were just one night stands for him and nothing more. Though Jenny was the exception not because he was in love with her but because the studio wanted to stage a romance between the two to add to the hype of the movie.</p>
<p>However, with Shaundi it would be different. There is history between them, a strong friendship that he cherishes more than anything.</p>
<p>"Hey Shaundi," the girl greeted as she herself filled a mug of coffee to drink. Shaundi however, rolled her eyes in disgust and turned away from her.</p>
<p>"Jenny," she responded back, her annoyance clear in her tone.</p>
<p>"I had no idea you had finished filming the show. I am such a big fan!" Jenny walked over to the table where Silas and Shaundi sat with her mug of coffee and sat down to the right side of Silas and scooted her chair closer to him. "Are you still with that one guy? Puerto Rican Thunder God? I had heard he was returning in this season."</p>
<p>"No," Shaundi answered her rather shortly. "And I can't really discuss the season before it airs."</p>
<p>The room remained in an awkward silence between the three. Silas could tell that Shaundi clearly didn't want to talk to her anymore and Jenny seemed to pick up on that vibe so she turned her attention to Silas.</p>
<p>"So, I had a good time last night," Jenny began coyly as she cozied up to Silas.</p>
<p>Silas quickly glanced at a glaring Shaundi. He tried to move further away but the chair could only allow him to go so far.</p>
<p>"There's a new restaurant that just opened up last week and I was thinking we could go out again and try it out. It's supposed to be amazing."</p>
<p>"Uh—" Silas stammered, his eyes flitting between an angry-looking Shaundi and a hopeful looking Jenny. His hands unconsciously ran through his short brown tresses. Something he always did when nervous. "Well, I don't—"</p>
<p>Before he could say anymore, Silas was saved by the ringing of his cell phone and he quickly picked it up and checked the screen and was a bit surprised when he saw who the caller was.</p>
<p>"Sorry, I have to take this call." he said as he got up from the dining chair to a more secluded spot to talk.</p>
<p>"What's up Troy," Silas responded to his former colleague now Chief of Police, Troy Bradshaw. The smile quickly faded to a frown as he listened to his caller and then suddenly jogged to the closet to get a coat causing Shaundi and Jenny to jump back in fright.</p>
<p>"Shit! When did that happen?" Silas asked hurriedly as he took a black peacoat from the hanger and slipped it on.</p>
<p>"Silas, what's the matter? What's going on?" Shaundi asked him worriedly. She stood up and followed him as he started walking toward the elevator.</p>
<p>"Yeah—yeah okay—yeah I'm heading there now." Silas pressed the end call button and quickly pocketed his keys lying in a bowl on an end table in the entryway.</p>
<p>"Silas, what happened?" Shaundi asked him again, this time more demanding.</p>
<p>Silas sighed as he pressed the down button on the elevator.</p>
<p>"That was Troy. One of our Planet Saints stores got bombed earlier this morning."</p>
<p>"Oh my god! Was anyone hurt?" Shaundi inquired, her voice panicking as she asked him.</p>
<p>"I don't know. Troy wouldn't tell me anything. He just told me to head to the site right away."</p>
<p>"Then let's go. I'll call Johnny and Pierce on our way and tell them to meet us there."</p>
<p>Silas nodded. That's when he remembered Jenny was still in his house.</p>
<p>"Oh, Jenny!" Silas quickly turned around to face her. "I had a good time last night but I have to get going," he quickly informed her as he waited for the elevator doors to open. "You can finish the coffee before you leave."</p>
<p>Before he could hear Jenny's response, the elevator doors opened and Shaundi dragged him into the elevator. As the doors closed, Silas could see the pissed off look Sarah gave him before she was gone from view.</p>
<p>"That was a little harsh, wasn't it?" Silas asked Shaundi as the elevator made its way down to the garage. "Goddammit, now I feel really bad. She probably thinks I'm a real asshole."</p>
<p>"Oh please she'll get over it," Shaundi rolled her eyes at him. "Besides, we have more important things to worry about than your fake relationship."</p>
<p>Silas nodded his head. "Yeah, you're right."</p>
<p>The elevator finally came to a halt once it reached the garage and opened its doors for the two occupants. Silas and Shaundi rushed to his Bootlegger parked a few cars away from them and got in. once he got the key in the ignition, Silas quickly backed out of the parking spot and sped out of the garage.</p>
<p>"So, how long has this been going on?" Shaundi asked Silas from the passenger seat.</p>
<p>"These attacks have been going on sporadically over the past couple of months—"</p>
<p>"Attacks?" Shaundi turned to him, her expression held a look of both anger and shock at Silas'response. "I was talking about you and Jenny but what the fuck Silas! We've been getting attacked!"</p>
<p>Suddenly Silas felt he would rather talk about the faux relationship between him and Jenny rather than explain the attacks to Shaundi.</p>
<p>"It was a few times!" Silas explained to her. "Isolated events that happened weeks apart and it was nothing like what happened at the store."</p>
<p>"You still couldn't have told me during one of many of our many conversations while I was away," Shaundi angrily exclaimed to her boss as she glared at him.</p>
<p>"You sound just like Johnny," Silas muttered under his breath. "Like I told Johnny and Pierce, I didn't say anything because I knew you guys would return to Stilwater and try to deal with it."</p>
<p>"You're damn right!" Shaundi replied to him. "Someone has been attacking us…the Saints! We can't let this go on any further!"</p>
<p>"I know!" Silas groaned in annoyance. "You don't think I know that? If I had any idea who was attacking us, I would have already dealt with them. I just did not want you guys to stop your own lives to deal with this."</p>
<p>Shaundi stared at Silas. She could see this attack has affected him, as any attack on the Saints in the past has done to him. She could tell he was frustrated that he didn't know who was attacking them and was doing everything he could to find them.</p>
<p>Not wanting to press the conversation any further, she decided to change the subject.</p>
<p>"I know you are doing whatever you can Silas," Shaundi assured him with a beautiful smile. "So, how was your date last night?"</p>
<p>"Do we really need to talk about my date, right now?" Silas responded to her question, trying to avoid answering her for fear of the reprimanding she always gave him for his choice of women, at least that's what he thinks.</p>
<p>"Well, it's going to be a while before we get to the store. We might as well talk about something," she answered him back with a sly smile. "Johnny said you and Jenny have been dating for a couple of months now?"</p>
<p>With a resounding sigh, Silas gave in.</p>
<p>"It's not dating," Silas corrected her. " Gryphon and the new director decided that they wanted to add more hype to the movie and figured the best way to do that was to have the two leads start dating."</p>
<p>"And you agreed to it." Shaundi breathed out a small chuckle and shook her head, her tight ponytail danced at the back of her head from side to side. "I know you're the type to take the fall for the greater good and everything, but I never thought you'd let some people dictate who you should date, especially with a girl like Jenny."</p>
<p>"A girl like her?" Silas repeated her question with a wry smile. "Pray tell, what type of girl is Jenny then?"</p>
<p>"The naive type," Shaundi answered him instantly. "Jenny is way too innocent for you, Silas. Which doesn't suit you at all."</p>
<p>Shaundi wasn't wrong, not exactly. While Jenny does seem to see the world through innocent eyes, she is far from innocent herself and aside from the 'accidental death' of Andy Zhen, his proof came from their date last night and the date nights before. Shaundi was right about one thing though, Jenny wasn't his type of girl, like all the rest he dated in the past but that didn't mean he didn't mind a brief companionship here and there.</p>
<p>"Fine. Then tell me, what type of women should I go for oh Love Guru?" Silas asked her sarcastically which he received a punch to his arm from Shaundi before she finally gave him a response.</p>
<p>"You need someone that knows who you really are and accepts you, all of you."</p>
<p>Silas glanced over to Shaundi. He knew who she meant, it was very clear no matter how subtle she tried to be. Silas knew that he couldn't care for her the way she wanted. He knew he wasn't the one for her.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Planet Saints store; Downtown</strong>
</p>
<p>It didn't take long for Silas to get to his destination. His penthouse was on the other side of the Downtown District. He could see the plume of black smoke rising over the building in between from their store when they were a few blocks away. With the windows down, he could hear the sirens of the ambulance and firefighters over at the store.</p>
<p>The whole street was filled with firefighters that managed to stop the store from burning any further while the EMTs helped the injured and the cops tried to keep the onlookers from trespassing onto the scene.</p>
<p>"Oh my God, I can't believe this happened," a wide-eyed Shaundi said breathlessly, cupping her hands over her mouth when she saw the wreckage of their store.</p>
<p>Silas couldn't believe it either. The building was in complete ruin. The store was nothing more than a ruin. The windows were shattered and the walls still standing were singed black. The merchandise was scattered everywhere on the sidewalk and street along with the rest of the debris that was blown away by the force of the explosion. He knew this wasn't a random act. To attack a Planet Saints was meant as a message for the Saints. Someone, Silas doesn't know who, clearly wants his attention. This time, he was finally going to give it to them.</p>
<p>As the two walked down the street, Silas caught a glimpse of a small group of people that didn't exactly seem to fit with the rest of the crowd. They wore red shirts and black blazers with matching slacks. These out of place characters, though suspicious looking and eyed him closely, appeared harmless and thus Silas left them alone. He had more important things to do than interrogate anyone right now.</p>
<p>Not long after did Johnny pull up in his car and jog to catch up with Silas and Shaundi before they entered the crime scene.</p>
<p>"I just got Shaundi's message." Johnny told them once he caught up to them.</p>
<p>"That's okay," Silas answered his friend and lieutenant. "Where's Pierce?"</p>
<p>"I have no fuckin' clue." Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "Probably with some girl, drunk off his ass."</p>
<p>"Goddammit Pierce!" Silas muttered though he wasn't surprised that Pierce hadn't shown up when he was called on but this time, he needed all of his Lt's here with him.</p>
<p>The cops tried to stop the three of them from entering the crime scene but luckily Troy was there and allowed them entrance.</p>
<p>"It's okay Robson, I called them here. You can let them through."</p>
<p>The cop eyed them one last time before stepping to the side to allow them access. While Silas and Troy had a truce between the Saints and the cops, there were a few that were still very wary.</p>
<p>"Silas," Troy curtly greeted the leader of the Saints. The Former Saint member himself turned to Shaundi and Johnny and greeted them just the same. "Shaundi, Johnny."</p>
<p>"Hey Troy, thanks for calling me."</p>
<p>"Yeah well, this mess is gonna have me out of the office all day and I need to talk to you in person."</p>
<p>"I'm not gonna lie, Silas, this is going to cause a big shitstorm now, for me and you. So, I am just going to ask, and I want an honest to God answer. Are you starting a war with another gang?"</p>
<p>"What? No!" Silas exclaimed. Part of that truce was to keep the peace, which mostly meant the Saints weren't allowed to cause any damage in the city unless the situation called for it.</p>
<p>"Are you sure?" Troy pointed to the ruins of the Planet Saints store. "Because this looks like someone wants to send you guys a message. Silas, this is the fourth attack on you guys and this is by far the worst. Are you sure your boys are keeping you updated?"</p>
<p>"Troy, I swear to you, if I or any of my guys had any idea who was doing this I would have dealt with them as soon as possible," Silas gave his friend an honest response. "My crew informs me of every fight, every conflict they get into. They can't kick a can without letting me know. So, believe me, they would tell me if a gang has shown up in Stilwater. But I promise you that whoever did this has my full attention now."</p>
<p>Troy exhaled an exasperated sigh and scratched his head. Troy was making Silas feel a bit nervous, with the way he seemed to be acting. This was never a good sign.</p>
<p>"So, what's the damage? Were there any casualties?" Johnny asked Troy rather curtly, finally saying something since arriving. Since Troy revealed that he was actually a cop all those years ago, he has held resentment toward his former friend.</p>
<p>"Well, a lot of people got hurt, around thirty or so including a couple of your Saints, mostly from the debris that came from the explosion. There was a casualty though, one of your own, Pete Scott." Troy informed them.</p>
<p>"Shit man, Pete's dead?" Johnny shook his head in disbelief as Shaundi covered her mouth in shock. Silas couldn't believe it either. Pete was a good Saint member and a good friend to everyone, even the new recruits. He was going to be sorely missed.</p>
<p>"You should be proud of him," Troy said to the upset group. "From the statements we got from the people that were in the store at the time, they said Pete was the first to spot the bomb and managed to get everyone out in time."</p>
<p>"That sounds like Pete." Silas smiled at hearing what his fellow Saint did. "He always put others before himself."</p>
<p>"What about the other Saint that was with him?" Johnny asked. "Was it Danny Ferrario? Those two are best friends, practically connected at the hip."</p>
<p>"Yeah, it was Danny." Troy answered him. "He got hurt pretty bad but the EMTs already took him to the hospital. Hopefully, he'll pull through."</p>
<p>Silas nodded. That was good. He'll make sure to visit Danny at the hospital as soon as he leaves here.</p>
<p>"Do you know anything about who could have done this?" Silas asked Troy. The chief of police only shook his head as his response.</p>
<p>"Not really. Most of the witnesses were rushed out before they could see anything," Troy told Silas. "However, the few that managed to catch a quick glance, mentioned seeing a guy wearing a mask."</p>
<p>Well, that's odd, Silas thought to himself. "A mask? What kind of mask?"</p>
<p>Troy shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know, everyone is still pretty shaken up and I have no idea if what they saw was even real or not."</p>
<p>Silas nodded. This was probably the most information he was going to get here.</p>
<p>"Well, I'm going to head back to Purgatory and see if I can find anything out from there. I'll head to the hospital first and check on Danny. Once he's well enough, I'll see if he can tell me anything about what happened."</p>
<p>"Yeah, you do that," Troy said to Silas. The chief of police extended his hand and Silas took it for him to shake. However, once the chief of Police had a firm grasp on Silas's hand, he pulled the Saints leader toward him.</p>
<p>"You better fix this Silas," Troy muttered low enough for Silas to hear. "I will not have any more gang violence in this city. I only tolerate you guys because you have helped restore this city and keep your soldiers in line, but you still walk a fine line and I will do what I have to do to keep the peace."</p>
<p>Silas looked at Troy and could see the serious expression he gave him. He knew it was tough for Troy, being the law of the city yet keeping his ties with the gang he used to be a part of. Silas tried his best to make it easy for him by keeping the gang violence to a minimum and paid for any damages he or the Saints did to the city in exchange for leniency. So far, it hasn't been a problem for either of them, until now.</p>
<p>It also did not help that on top of all this mess, it was an election year and Troy's seat is up. Normally, he ran unopposed as his ties with the Saints garnered him some respect but his opponent, Ben Fordman, was a relentless opponent that tried to demonize his ties with the Saints.</p>
<p>Being a cop is Troy's life and losing this position would be terrible for him. Silas would feel terrible for him as well because he knows that it would be because of their friendship. He had to make this right.</p>
<p>"I promise Troy, I'll figure this out and stop it before it gets out of hand."</p>
<p>Troy let out a deep sigh. Silas was sure that Troy remained unconvinced. That man hated when things were beyond his control, but he understood that when it comes to gangs, you couldn't deal with them by abiding by the laws. As much as he didn't like it, Troy knew it was better to have a gang deal with gangs and that's what the Saints did for Stilwater.</p>
<p>Once the two let go, Silas gave his friend a pat on the back before departing the scene.</p>
<p>"I'll let you know what's going on when I get more information, alright." Silas told Troy as he started walking off. "I'll contact you as soon as I can."</p>
<p>With those parting words, Silas Johnny and Shaundi left the ruined store that belonged to them and made their way back to the street.</p>
<p>"So, what do you think, man?" Johnny asked Silas when the three of them walked across the street. "Is this a declaration of war?"</p>
<p>Silas could see the anticipation in his friend's eyes. Johnny was always up for a fight. That was just the way he is and lately, Johnny has been itching for a fight with someone.</p>
<p>"That's what someone is trying to do," Silas responded as he stopped at his car. Johnny and Shaundi stood on either side of him. "But I'm not going to let it become a war. I'm not going to give whoever is doing this what they want."</p>
<p>Silas turned to them both as they waited for his instructions.</p>
<p>"I'm going to the hospital and check up on Danny and see if he's okay and find out what he knows. Shaundi, get our tech guys checking all our surveillance camera feedback and look for anything suspicious. Johnny, talk with any of our boys that were patrolling within a mile radius of the store and ask them if they saw anything out of the ordinary. Oh, and one of you two please get a hold of Pierce and tell him to get his ass down to Purgatory as soon as possible. We need to figure this shit out soon. I refuse to make this city a warzone again."</p>
<p>Silas's two lieutenants nodded and walked off to Johnny's car some ways away and drove off to their hideout.</p>
<p>With a heavy sigh, Silas opened his car door and sat in the black leather seat. He couldn't believe how this day started. One of their stores bombed, one their own dead and many innocent civilians injured not to mention the media was going to have a field day with this. It really wasn't his day.</p>
<p>
  <strong>xXx</strong>
</p>
<p>Silas slowed his driving as he turned into the hospital parking lot and found a spot to park his car.</p>
<p>The waiting room was busy with doctors bustling around trying to help the patients, from the looks of them they were the victims of the bombing at Planet Saints and their family members scattered throughout the room, some of them crowding around the doctors and nurses, hoping to get an answer about their injured family.</p>
<p>Across the room, Silas spotted Danny's family huddled together, sitting quietly in somber. One of them, Silas recognized as Danny's longtime girlfriend sitting with her boyfriend's two kid siblings, noticed Silas making his way toward her small group.</p>
<p>"Brooke," Silas greeted Danny's girlfriend. She stood up and hugged Silas tightly, a surprising move on her part. Silas was sure that she was going to be furious with him and yell at him or slap him or both for letting this happen to him. Yet, she kept hugging him as she cried on his shoulder.</p>
<p>Once Brooke seemed calm enough, they parted from the embrace and greeted Danny's little brother and sister. "Have you seen the doctor yet? Do you know how Danny is doing?"</p>
<p>Brooke nodded as she wiped away the tears that trailed down her flushed cheeks.</p>
<p>"The doctor said Danny will pull through," Brooke informed Silas, much to his relief. He was glad about that. However, his relief quickly waned when he saw her lips trembling and more tears coming from her glistening brown eyes. "But um…" she sniffled back her tears as she tried to maintain her composure. "But Danny… he um…he had to lose his right leg."</p>
<p>Silas felt like he was punched in the gut when he heard those words. He felt so guilty for Danny. His life is going to change forever because of him, because some unknown gang out there decided they wanted to get the Saints attention by hurting a bunch of people in the process. Now he lost a Saint and another is sitting in a hospital bed with a severed limb.</p>
<p>"Brooke, I am so…so sorry for what happened to Danny, and Pete. I know you were friends with him as well." Silas began softly. Brooke nodded in understanding.</p>
<p>"Danny's mother is with him in the room while he is resting, but you can visit him if you want." Silas nodded and thanked her as she gave him the room Danny was in and walked down the long white fluorescent-lit hallway until he reached his destination.</p>
<p>Silas quietly opened the door when he got to the room to not disturb anyone. However, Danny's mother noticed the door opening from her seat beside the hospital bed where her eldest son slept and stood up before Silas could protest.</p>
<p>His body faced the bed, giving him a good look at his injured Saint. Danny looked terrible. His face was battered and swollen. His left arm was encased in a cast resting in a sling. However, what caught Silas's attention the most was the absence of Danny's right leg underneath the covers. The young man lost everything from the knee down.</p>
<p>"Ms. Ferrario," Silas whispered his greeting to the widowed woman. She walked over to him and like Brooke, she gave him a tight hug rather than get angry at him.</p>
<p>"Mr. Silas, I am so glad you came to visit my son," The Italian born woman greeted Silas. "It means so much."</p>
<p>"Of course Ms. Ferrario. I consider Danny family." Silas told her. When they broke from their embrace he gave a quick chaste kiss on her hand. She was always so kind to him, especially now, he felt he didn't deserve it. "I promise to pay for all of his medical expenses and make sure he gets the best doctor and treatments available."</p>
<p>"I know that you have raised Pete as your own and I want to let you know that I will pay for his funeral expenses as well."</p>
<p>Ms. Ferrario tried to interject but Silas wouldn't have it. "Your boys are part of the Saints, which makes them my family and I take care of my family. You should be proud of both of them."</p>
<p>"Thank you, Mr. Silas. That means so much," she smiled kindly to the Saints leader and gently patted his cheek.</p>
<p>"Ugh hmm..."</p>
<p>The two quickly turned to the bed and saw Danny slowly stirring awake and quickly made their way to his bedside.</p>
<p>Ms. Ferrario gently caressed her son's forehead, combing strands of Danny's hair to the side as his bruised and swollen eyes opened to see his guests by his side.</p>
<p>"Mom?" Danny asked, his voice hoarse and scratchy. His mother leaned forward toward her son, her eyes glistened brightly at seeing her son awake and talking.</p>
<p>"I'm here," she answered softly. "Mr. Silas is here as well. He came to visit you."</p>
<p>Danny carefully turned his head toward Silas and smiled as far as his sore face would allow.</p>
<p>"Hey Boss," Danny greeted him.</p>
<p>"Hey Danny," Silas smiled back. "For a guy that got blown the hell up, you look good."</p>
<p>Danny chuckled only to be cut short by a sudden hiss of pain from the young recruit.</p>
<p>"Dolcezza, are you okay?" Ms. Ferrario asked her son worriedly. Danny nodded and gave his mother a reassuring smile.</p>
<p>"Yeah mamma, I just need water."</p>
<p>His mother nodded and picked up the pitcher only to find it empty of water.</p>
<p>"I'll be right back, okay? I'm just going to get some water," she told the two as she walked toward the door. "I'm going to get some coffee, do you want some coffee, Mr. Silas?"</p>
<p>Silas nodded. "No thank you. And Ms. Ferrario, please call me Silas."</p>
<p>Danny's mother gave him a kind smile before walking through the doorway and shutting the door behind her.</p>
<p>Silas stepped over to the chair beside the bed and sat in it. For a moment, the room was silent, aside from the rhythmic beeping of the heart rate monitor.</p>
<p>Finally, after a few moments of silence, Silas spoke.</p>
<p>"Man, I…God, I don't know what to say. Sorry just doesn't seem good enough right now."</p>
<p>Danny breathed a small chuckle. "There's nothing to be sorry for Boss. I knew the consequences when I joined the Saints. So, did Pete."</p>
<p>"You know? About Pete?" Silas asked him, surprised that Danny knew what happened.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I saw him right after the explosion," Danny answered Silas, his voice becoming heavy with emotion and Silas knew that he was crying. Tears began gathering at the corners of the young recruit's eyes and steadily streamed down his black and blue cheeks. "After the explosion…I saw his mangled body on the ground. His eyes…God his eyes just stared back at me but there was no life behind them. I knew then that he was gone."</p>
<p>Danny inhaled a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. Silas felt bad for him, Danny has been through a lot in his life and now he lost a limb and worse, he lost a brother in moments.</p>
<p>"You know," Danny began again once he managed to gain some composure. "I was the one that convinced Pete to join the Saints with me in the first place. It's my fault—"</p>
<p>"No Danny, it is not your fault," Silas firmly told him. "You hear me? Pete's death wasn't your fault. The blame belongs to the fuckers that placed the bomb in the store."</p>
<p>The Saints leader leaned forward and placed a firm reassuring hand on Danny's uninjured shoulder.</p>
<p>"I promise you, I am going to find the people that did this," Silas assured Danny confidently. "I already have the Saints looking into it. However, I could really use your help to figure out who it is that attacked us."</p>
<p>"I don't really know much," Danny admitted. "I don't think I'll be much help."</p>
<p>"That's okay, any information helps," Silas assured him. "We just need to eliminate factors so we know what to look for specifically."</p>
<p>Danny gave him a small nod before he began.</p>
<p>"Well, there was a person, a guy from the size of the body, sitting on a chair in the middle of the store, wearing a mask."</p>
<p>Silas stared at Danny, his eyes widened for a moment at the sudden bit of information. <em>So, there indeed was a mask!</em></p>
<p>"Troy mentioned a mask was seen by the other victims," Silas told Danny. "What kind of mask was it?"</p>
<p>"It was one of those wrestling masks…a luchador mask."</p>
<p><em>Well, that's an unexpected answer. Mexican wrestlers are attacking the Saints now</em>? "Are you sure it was a luchador mask?"</p>
<p>"Yeah, it was green with red borders around the eyes and mouth area."</p>
<p>Silas didn't know what to think of this. He's never heard of a Mexican wrestling gang before and couldn't determine what they are like.</p>
<p>"What can you tell me about the guy that wore the mask?"</p>
<p>"Not much," Danny answered truthfully. "Except that I don't think he was a part of whatever gang that attacked us."</p>
<p>"How so?" Silas inquired curiously.</p>
<p>"I think he was a random homeless man they picked off the street. His clothes were dirty and torn and he smelled like he hadn't bathed in years."</p>
<p>Makes sense. No gang would sacrifice their own. At least Silas wouldn't do that to his Saints.</p>
<p>"Hey Boss, I'm sorry but that's all I know. I wish I knew more to help you," Danny said to Silas. The Saints leader nodded and patted his shoulder.</p>
<p>"That's fine, your information was helpful. It narrows down what to look for. I'll be sure to tell the gang when I get back to Purgatory so we know what to look for."</p>
<p>Silas stood up from the chair.</p>
<p>"I better get going, I need to meet up with the rest of the gang and discuss what happened today, so we can figure out how to deal with the situation. And I want you to get some rest to recover."</p>
<p>"Hey Boss," Danny called out to Silas.</p>
<p>Silas was halfway when he stopped himself from going any further and turned to face Danny.</p>
<p>"I uh…well I was wondering if…if I could still be a Saint?"</p>
<p>Silas looked at him curiously, more surprised that Danny still wanted to be a Saint after all that happened today.</p>
<p>"Look, I know that I will be useless out on the field but there must be something I can do for the Saints."</p>
<p>"Well, Danny—"</p>
<p>"Please Boss, don't let me go," Danny begged Silas. "I can work hard, I promise just please, don't kick me out of the Saints."</p>
<p>"Danny, I'm not going to kick you out of the Saints, if that's what you want," Silas assured him with a smile. "I've got some connections with a Biotechnology company that has been working on prosthetics and making them more lifelike. I'll be sure to give them a call and make an appointment for you."</p>
<p>Danny's swollen eyes widened as far as they could.</p>
<p>"You would do that for me?" He asked his boss, sounding surprised.</p>
<p>"Of course," Silas said with a smile. "You're a Saint and I consider you one of my own. Now get some rest and recover."</p>
<p>With those parting words, Silas left the room and closed the door behind him.</p>
<p>With the information he got, he needed to head to Purgatory and meet up with the rest of the gang to find out what they know. He had to stop this new gang, whoever they are, from doing any more damage than they already have.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Purgatory (Hideout of the Saints)</strong>
</p>
<p>By the time he got to the Saints hideout, the entire gang was already there scattered throughout the inner sanctum. There was a somber feeling in the hideout as Silas looked out from the balcony of the staircase. Some of the members consoled each other about the events of what happened with Danny and Pete and the loss of one of their own. Pete's death hit them hard, he was well-liked by everyone and made many friends within the Saints.</p>
<p>Silas walked over to the railing guarding the edge of the balcony and addressed the crowd below.</p>
<p>"Saints!" Silas called out to the large crowd. Everyone fell silent as they listened to their boss.</p>
<p>"Today, two of our own were caught in an attack. One lost a limb and the other lost his life because some motherfuckers wanted to get our attention. Well, they got it and I will make sure that they pay for what they did to Danny Ferrario and Pete Scott. Together, we will avenge our brothers!"</p>
<p>The crowd of Saints applauded and cheered at Silas's statement. They were just as willing to avenge their friends and take down the people that attacked them.</p>
<p>Silas waited for when the cheers died down and dismissed the crowd. While everyone dispersed, he found Shaundi and Johnny and even Pierce in the crowd and called them up to his office for a private meeting with his Lieutenants.</p>
<p>Silas sat behind his desk as he watched his three friends enter his office one by one and took a seat on the available chairs in the room.</p>
<p>"Well well, look who finally decided to show up," Silas said as he glared at Pierce. The lieutenant tried his best to look innocent. A futile attempt to avoid getting in trouble with the boss for not answering his call.</p>
<p>"Sorry Boss," Pierce responded with a smirk. "I had a late night with this really fine honey I met last night at the bar."</p>
<p>Shaundi made a disgusted look and said "Ugh! First the Boss and now you!" The female Lieutenant turned her angry glare at Johnny, who took a step back in fright. "Did you get ass from a cheap girl last night as well?"</p>
<p>"That depends, are you going to flip out on me if I say yes?" Johnny responded defensively as Shaundi flipped him off.</p>
<p>"Alright alright, enough," Silas intervened before more could be said. "Can we please stop talking about our personal lives and move on to the matter at hand?"</p>
<p>Silas turned his gaze on Johnny who sat to the far right.</p>
<p>"Johnny, what did our boys on the street tell you?"</p>
<p>The second in command shifted in his seat and cleared his throat before giving his response.</p>
<p>"They said they saw no one suspicious hanging around the store," Johnny told him. "But, some of the guys mentioned seeing a car circle around the block a few times. They didn't call it in because while it looked suspicious, nothing happened and didn't want to cause trouble."</p>
<p>"What kind of model of car was it?" Silas asked curiously.</p>
<p>"They said it was a black and red infuego with tinted windows. Oh, and they said there was a red star painted on the roof of the car."</p>
<p>Silas sat up straighter in his chair. There it was, another clue was found. However, the green luchador mask doesn't exactly fit in with the black and red town car lurking around the streets. Hopefully, with a few more clues, they could find the connection and locate the gang.</p>
<p>"Nice work Johnny." Silas then turned his attention to Shaundi who sat in between Johnny and Pierce. "Shaundi, what did our tech team find on the surveillance cameras?"</p>
<p>"Well, they found out that we were hacked," Shaundi informed him.</p>
<p>"What!" Silas exclaimed in shock. "I thought we had the best security money can buy protecting our computers from this sort of thing."</p>
<p>"Well, whoever did this has some really good hacking skills to get through the firewalls. Believe me, Tim and his tech boys are really beating themselves up for allowing this to happen. They are hellbent on finding the people responsible for hacking into our system."</p>
<p>Silas sighed and relaxed back into his chair.</p>
<p>"Tell Tim he's not to blame," Silas calmly told Shaundi who nodded. "Was there anything he could find before our computers got hacked? Any suspicious cars or people?"</p>
<p>Shaundi shook her head in response. "No, but the hackers left their calling card behind. Tim managed to take a screenshot of it before it disappeared off the screen and sent it to me."</p>
<p>Shaundi took out her phone and clicked on the picture icon before passing it to Silas. What he saw on the screen surprised him. It wasn't a red star like the ones on the cars or anything that linked to the green luchador mask at Planet Saints. The screenshot presented to him showed a neon blue skull with a star in one of the skull's eyes. It still wasn't much, but this certainly confirmed one thing, three gangs are trying to contest the Saints.</p>
<p>The sudden sound of Silas's office door opening brought their attention away from their conversation and to the unexpected guest, Tim who came running in as fast as he could, nearly dropping his laptop in his hands.</p>
<p>"Bo…Boss…" Tim said in between his deep breaths. He bent forward and placed his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Tim wasn't an official member of the Saints but his tech-savviness was useful to the gang and earned him a spot on the payroll. "I…I found something!"</p>
<p>"You did!" Silas exclaimed excitedly and stood up. Tim nodded and walked over to Silas's desk and placed the laptop on the tabletop. "I thought we were hacked and the feed was deleted?"</p>
<p>"It was, on our surveillance cameras. I even hacked into the street cameras and the security cameras from the nearby stores but they were hacked as well," Tim explained to Silas and the rest of the Lieutenants. "However, I managed to hack into the security cameras from that paranoid gun store owner the next street over. You know, the one with cameras all over his shop? Well, he had a couple of cameras facing our store because he thought we were up to no good and thank God he did because I managed to find something on his feed."</p>
<p>Silas and his Lieutenants surrounded Tim as he showed them the video feed on the laptop. After some magnifying and clearing the picture, they could finally see the scene of their store from a camera across the street of a group of people in front of the store, two of them were pushing a masked person, no doubt the poor homeless man that had to wear the bomb on his body while they forced him into the store.</p>
<p>Silas took a closer look and noticed something about the people in the video feed. It was what they wore that made him overcome with this feeling of familiarity. Then it hit him, it was the same outfits that the suspicious group of guys at the scene wore. The same expensive-looking black suit and red shirts underneath the blazer.</p>
<p>"I saw these guys," Silas told them and pointed to the men in question on the screen. "Earlier today at the store, I saw them hanging out in the crowd. Probably wanted to see their handy work."</p>
<p>It was in that instant another thought occurred to Silas, something he couldn't believe he didn't realize earlier. "Oh my God, these gangs are working together."</p>
<p>He looked over at his friends who stared at him in shock. This was definitely new to them. Every gang they faced, fought them separately, which made it easy for Silas and the Saints to defeat them. However, now these three gangs that they don't know anything about have united against them and are attempting to goad the Saints into a fight.</p>
<p>Pierce moved in a little closer, his eyes squinting at the screen before going wide again.</p>
<p>"Oh shit! I've seen them too!"</p>
<p>Before Silas could continue, he dismissed Tim and thanked him for his hard work in finding viable video feed for them. Once the office door closed behind Tim, Silas gave his attention back to Pierce.</p>
<p>"When did you see them?"</p>
<p>"I saw a couple of them when I was leaving Patron Saints last night." Pierce responded back. "Yeah, they were eyeballing me kinda funny. I would've confronted them if I didn't have someone with me already.</p>
<p>"It's a good thing you didn't," Silas said as he leaned back into his seat. "We don't know what they could've done if you tried to fight them."</p>
<p>"So, we have three gangs working together to take us down."</p>
<p>All three of his lieutenants looked at him confused.</p>
<p>"Three?" Johnny repeated, receiving a nod from Silas. "What do you mean three? We only found the symbols of two gangs."</p>
<p>Silas realized that they didn't know about the luchador mask Danny told him about at the hospital.</p>
<p>"I talked to Danny at the hospital," Silas told his lieutenants. All three of them listened intently to their boss as he told them what Danny said. "He told me that the bomb was on a homeless guy wearing a mask, a green luchador mask."</p>
<p>"Well, a gang of green Mexican wrestlers shouldn't be too hard to find in this city," Johnny smirked, getting the rest of the room to smile for the first time since the incident this morning. "So, what you want us to do Boss?"</p>
<p>Silas rubbed the stubble on his chin as he pondered what he should do next about this unforeseen situation.</p>
<p>"Alright," he finally said after thinking it over. "Johnny, I want you and Pierce to handpick Saints that you think are best to go undercover and find these gangs. When they patrol, I want them to wear their civvies twenty-four seven, no Saints colors and no Saints logos. I don't want these gangs to know we are looking for them."</p>
<p>Johnny nodded. "You got it, Boss."</p>
<p>Both Pierce and Johnny got up to do their assignment. Before they could leave, Silas called out to them.</p>
<p>"I want to give everyone the day off, give them time to mourn. Tell them they can pay their respects to Pete and Danny at Patron Saints, all rounds are on me."</p>
<p>"Sounds like a good idea Boss," Pierce told him with a small smile before the two of them left the room.</p>
<p>Silas then turned to Shaundi. "Shaundi, call Tim and tell him I want him and his tech boys checking on all the street cameras in the city. I want all eyes looking out for these guys every second of every day until we can locate where they are hiding out. Make sure they look for red stars, green luchador masks and neon blue skulls. Oh, and tell him to add extra security to our systems. Whatever the cost is, I don't care. I'm willing to pay."</p>
<p>"I'm on it," Shaundi answered him.</p>
<p>"Shaundi, hold up a moment," Silas said before she could get out of her seat. Shaundi relaxed back into the black leather chair.</p>
<p>"I am really sorry that we couldn't hang out today as I promised. I feel really bad."</p>
<p>Shaundi only smiled and waved off the apology.</p>
<p>"It's fine. I understand Boss," Shaundi told him. "Listen, why don't you just come to Patron Saints tonight?"</p>
<p>"I would, but I have a lot of work to do and I have to talk to Troy and tell him what we know so far."</p>
<p>Shaundi nodded but looked a little disappointed. Once she got up from the chair, she said bye to Silas and left the room to talk to Tim, leaving Silas alone in his office to do work of his own. With all of his Saints on alert, he trusted that they would find these gangs that have united against them soon.</p>
<p>However, Silas still had that weird feeling from last night that kept him up. Something told him that things were about to change. Silas only hoped that the change would be in their favor.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Purgatory, a couple of weeks later</strong>
</p>
<p>Days have passed since the incident at the Planet Saints store since Silas assigned his Saints to look for these other gangs as top priority but unfortunately for the Saints, they found nothing. The city cameras had nothing to show for them and the Saints that went undercover couldn't find a hint of them anywhere in the city.</p>
<p>The uninvited gangs hadn't done anything since blowing up the store. It was as if they had disappeared. At least, that's what they wanted the Saints to believe and Silas didn't believe it for a moment. He knew they were still out there hiding in his city.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Silas had to give leadership on the search to one of his subordinates because today was the day he and his Lieutenants were going on a bank heist with the actor Josh Birk. Something he tried to reschedule for another day but Josh wouldn't take no for an answer and he said he was already in Stilwater and had gotten a hotel room.</p>
<p>Now, Silas, Johnny, Shaundi and Pierce sat in the main room of their hideout as they waited for the actor to arrive, which was an hour ago.</p>
<p>"Fuck man, How long is this guy gonna keep us waiting?" Pierce asked, finally glancing up from his phone screen, clearly annoyed for the long wait from the sound of his voice.</p>
<p>"Yeah seriously, where is Birk? He called us for an early start and he's not even here," Shaundi added with a yawn. She was never much of a morning person. "He better not cancel on us or I'll kick his ass."</p>
<p>"He'll be here," Silas assured them. Like everyone else in the room, Silas kept himself busy while he waited with forms about some new merchandise sent by Eric Gryphon from Ultor to look over. "The guy called me late last night just to tell me how excited he was to be doing this heist with us…Then he went on about how he was a method actor and how this was going to help him get into the mind of a gangbanger or whatever."</p>
<p>As if on cue, the sound of the elevator door opening moved their attention to the staircase where the narcissistic actor that is Josh Birk came walking down with a cup tray of coffee in one hand and a bag of pastries in the other.</p>
<p>"It's about time!" Pierce exclaimed as he and the rest got up from the couch they sat on. "What took you so long?"</p>
<p>"I'm so sorry," Josh apologized with a smile, though he didn't seem very sorry. "I was getting you guy's coffee when I was suddenly being mobbed by a crowd of fans begging for autographs and pictures and being the nice guy I am…" Josh turned his full attention to Shaundi who looked at him with a cocked eyebrow as the actor stepped closer toward her. "…I couldn't deny their favors and had to stay for a while longer than anticipated."</p>
<p>"Hey, I'm Josh Birk and you are so beautiful" Birk gave her what was apparently supposed to be a sexy smile to go with his smoldering eyes. He held out his hand for Shaundi to shake, which she reluctantly did. Instead of shaking hands, Josh grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him and swiftly kissed her knuckles before she managed to escape his grasp.</p>
<p>Silas Johnny and Pierce chuckled at Shaundi's predicament with the egotistical actor in their presence. They did enjoy seeing her get annoyed sometimes, especially if it ended with her kicking the ass of the person annoying her. From what they could tell, this guy was already testing her limits.</p>
<p>"Really not interested," Shaundi spat at him and took a step away from the actor.</p>
<p>"Birk," Silas called out to the actor, gaining his attention and shook hands with Josh. "It's good to see you again. I see that you have already introduced yourself to Shaundi."</p>
<p>"Indeed I did," Josh winked at Shaundi, who rolled her eyes in response.</p>
<p>Josh took one of the coffee cups from the holder and held it out for Shaundi. "Coffee?"</p>
<p>"I hate coffee from coffee chains," she retorted back and placed the cup on the coffee table and crossed her arms on her chest.</p>
<p>"I'll take one," Pierce chimed in and snatched one of the other cups for himself along with the bag of pastries after handing one of the extra cups of coffee to Johnny.</p>
<p>Birk handed Silas the last cup of coffee and gladly accepted it.</p>
<p>"Ugh, what the hell kind of coffee is this?" Johnny inquired with a disgusted look on his face as he held the cup of coffee as far away from him as his arms allowed.</p>
<p>"Columbian roast with three pumps classic, three pumps toffee nut and steamed cream," Josh informed him confidently and took a sip of his own. "Doesn't it just wake you up?"</p>
<p>"No, it gives me a headache from all the fuckin' sweetness swirling around in this cup. Whatever happened to just plain black coffee?"</p>
<p>"I don't know what you're talking about," Pierce said after taking a sip of his coffee, holding the cup with a pinky sticking out. "This is a damn fine cup of coffee." He then took a bite of the blueberry muffin in his hand.</p>
<p>"'an 'hish muffin ish shoft!" Pierce said with a mouth full of the pastry.</p>
<p>"Alright guys enough with the coffee break," Silas announced and placed his own cup down on the countertop of the bar. "We are already behind schedule and have a lot to cover if we want this to be a successful heist."</p>
<p>Silas took out the schematics of the bank and spread them out on the coffee table turned to Josh with a smirk.</p>
<p>"So Birk, are you ready for your quick tutorial on how to rob a bank?"</p>
<p>
  <strong>Two hours later…</strong>
</p>
<p>After much discussion and directions, Silas Josh and his Lieutenants drove to the First National Bank of Stilwater in the Saints Row District to begin the heist.</p>
<p>To his surprise, Silas was impressed with how quickly Josh remembered his part in the plan. He assumed it had to do with Birk being an actor and remembering his lines and cues are a big part of his job.</p>
<p>Johnny drove the car around back and parked it not far from the back entrance.</p>
<p>As they all exited the car, Silas looked out to the giant building of the bank. He was surprised by the lack of security. A building like this would surely have guards surrounding the perimeter, yet none were even guarding the front entrance.</p>
<p>Silas walked over to the back of the car where Johnny was unloading the gear from the trunk.</p>
<p>"Hey, Gat."</p>
<p>"Yeah Boss?" Johnny responded as he carried out the last of the duffle bags and shut the trunk.</p>
<p>"Isn't it a bit odd that there are no guards back here?" Silas asked his friend as he eyed the tall building.</p>
<p>Johnny gave a quick glance at the building as he took a couple of the duffle bags and hitched the straps on his shoulders.</p>
<p>"Not really," Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "It's a little off but this is usually the time when the guard change happens. Lucky for us."</p>
<p>As much of a relief it gave to Johnny to not have to deal with security before they even got into the building, it made Silas feel uneasy. He did not know why but he felt there was something wrong here.</p>
<p>"Hey, maybe we should cancel the heist," Silas suggested to Johnny, his voice barely loud enough for Johnny to hear.</p>
<p>"What? No way man!" Johnny responded incredulously, but quiet nonetheless. "We have been planning this for weeks. It's full proof."</p>
<p>"I don't know Johnny," Silas sighed. "Something just doesn't feel right about this."</p>
<p>"It's just a hiccup in the plan, is all, and not a bad one either. I didn't really feel like getting shot at before we took a step into the bank anyway."</p>
<p>Silas still wasn't sure about doing this heist. A part of him was telling him that this was a bad idea. However, he could see that his friends were excited to do this job. It has been a while since they've done something like this and they have been itching to do a job again.</p>
<p><em>Maybe Johnny's right</em>, Silas thought to himself. <em>Maybe I'm just overthinking things.</em></p>
<p>Silas tried to persuade himself that this is what it really is, just him overthinking things. However, he still couldn't shake off that feeling that something was wrong here.</p>
<p>The group carried the duffel bags and walked to the back entrance of the towering building. Shaundi picked the lock and opened the door for everyone to enter.</p>
<p>Pierce stayed behind to be their getaway driver when they were done.</p>
<p>Across the way, the group saw the elevators they needed to take up and pushed the button to gain access.</p>
<p>The trip up the building was a bit longer than expected, so while Johnny and Silas passed out the weapons and other equipment, Birk watched the new Saints Flow commercial that Pierce sent him.</p>
<p>"Japanese commercials, easiest money you'll ever make," Josh said as he put his phone back in his pocket.</p>
<p>"Grand larceny's right up there," Johnny smirked and gave Birk a pair of pistols from one of the bags they carried. "You ready for this?"</p>
<p>"No worries," Birk responded with his usual arrogance. He twirled the pistols for fun in his hands. "I do my own stunts.</p>
<p>Silas was glad he told Johnny to give Birk pistols loaded with blanks, this guy is an accident waiting to happen.</p>
<p>"Hey, you're just a ride-along, man." Shaundi chimed in as she tested the voice changer placed around her neck. Her voice sounded more robotic with it on. "So don't get all Hong Kong style in there."</p>
<p>"I am a method actor," Birk said with such conviction, Silas couldn't help but chuckle at this guy as he placed the giant Johnny Gat head-on. Shaundi clearly did not want this guy here with us, though his presence, albeit annoying, was kind of funny. Especially at Shaundi's expense.</p>
<p>"If I'm gonna play a Saint with any degree of emotional truth, I gotta make it real."</p>
<p>"Trust me, Birk, it'll be real." Everyone turned to Silas, now fully dressed in their disguise to look like Johnny Gat while robbing this bank.</p>
<p>Birk looked confused at the three Saints as he noticed all of them disguised themselves as Johnny.</p>
<p>"You're robbing a bank dressed like yourselves?"</p>
<p>"Hell yeah," Johnny's disguised voice said as he placed the mask of his bobble-headed likeness of himself over his own head. "Who doesn't want to be Johnny Gat?"</p>
<p>For a moment, the actor still seemed confused at their plan. Then his expression changed as if he now understood.</p>
<p>"Ultra-post-modernism," Birk said with a smile before putting on the mask. "I love it."</p>
<p>"Yeah…okay." Silas didn't know what the hell Birk was talking about. He turned to the elevator panel and saw they were only a few floors away from their destination. "Alright, guys get ready."</p>
<p>The team readied their weapons, Josh was bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement and practically ran out of the elevator, he would have too if Johnny didn't hold him back from walking ahead of Silas.</p>
<p>Shaundi walked a little faster to catch up with Silas.</p>
<p>"I'm cool with the Saints movie, but do we really have to drag this asshole actor around?"</p>
<p>"Cut Josh some slack, he's just researching his part," Silas said, trying to come to Josh's aide. He could understand the guy's excitement.</p>
<p>Silas couldn't see it, but he knew that Shaundi was rolling her eyes at him.</p>
<p>"I hoped he signed a waiver," was all she said before they got to work.</p>
<p>Silas raised his gun and shot a couple of bullets into the ceiling to catch the attention of the patrons and employers. A few people screamed while others looked back in surprise and excitement to see the Saints robbing the bank.</p>
<p>"Alright people—"</p>
<p>Silas was unexpectedly interrupted by Josh Birk running past him and jumping atop one of the countertops and brandishing his pistols, scaring some of the patrons.</p>
<p>"NOBODY MOVES, NOBODY DIES!" Josh yelled out.</p>
<p>"Birk!" Shaundi called out to the actor, bringing him back to reality.</p>
<p>"Sorry, jumped my line. Can we go again?"</p>
<p>Silas ignored the actor and sat beside him on the counter and pointed his gun at the crowd.</p>
<p>"You all know the drill," Silas calmly told the patrons.</p>
<p>They all got in line and tossed their money into the duffel bag on the floor while Johnny kept guard. When they were done, the patrons all took pictures with Silas. He was more than happy to take pictures with fans and give them an autograph.</p>
<p>While Silas Shaundi and Johnny were dealing with the fans, Birk decided to go off on his own and hassle a few of the employees.</p>
<p>Josh aimed one of his guns at the elderly lady working on the other side of the counter. Silas was so glad he gave Birk a gun with blanks or else something bad would have seriously gone wrong.</p>
<p>"Get in line bitch!"</p>
<p>"Hey, don't be a dick!" Shaundi snapped at Josh.</p>
<p>"You guys call yourself gang bangers? You're a bunch of pussies!" Josh shot back, surprising the Saints that he would say something so brazen.</p>
<p>"We should be all up in their shit, like—FUCK!"</p>
<p>When Birk turned back to the elderly employee, she pulled out a gun herself and shot at Josh. Luckily, he was quick on his feet and jumped out of the way.</p>
<p>All the patrons scattered to the wind, trying to escape the gunfight or just trying to not get shot.</p>
<p>Before anyone could react, the large double doors behind the counters burst open and guys in black suits and red shirts came running out from behind the counters and began shooting at them. Now Silas understood why he had a bad feeling, this bank was taken over by the gang that has been attacking them.</p>
<p>Silas Johnny and Shaundi pulled up their weapons and ducked behind the other counters for protection while being pelted with gunfire.</p>
<p>Silas peeked from his hiding spot to check on the situation. So far, all the employees were packing heat, and up top behind the windows were more black and red-clad guards with assault rifles pointed towards them.</p>
<p>"So, you think I'm still overreacting?" Silas joked at Johnny for what he said earlier.</p>
<p>"You got a plan, or we just shooting all these mother fuckers?" Johnny said over the sound of gunfire, hoping to change the subject.</p>
<p>"That is my plan," Silas answered back.</p>
<p>"Works for me" was all Johnny said before running out from behind the counter and began shooting at anyone with a gun.</p>
<p>Silas and Shaundi quickly followed and shot down the bank employees in their way so they could head back, just like their plan.</p>
<p>Silas' first thought was to kill the guys up top since they have the advantage. One by one they all fell to their deaths. Silas moved on to the remainder of the bank employees still alive and shooting. To his surprise, Silas found Birk still alive but scared.</p>
<p>"How are you doing Birk?" Silas snickered as he shot at a gun-toting man.</p>
<p>"Umm…were gonna die!" Was all the actor frantically said when he caught up to the group.</p>
<p>"What happened to 'I do my own stunts'?" Silas scoffed, remembering that bravado Birk had in the elevator.</p>
<p>"Hey, do these look like squibs to you?" Josh countered. "And then you gave me guns with fucking blanks! I could have died out there!"</p>
<p>"Yeah sorry about that," Silas chuckled and took out a pair of pistols with real bullets and gave them to Josh. "The fight caught us by surprise as well and I thought you wouldn't need the real guns."</p>
<p>Josh seemed to accept the apology and took the real guns with a big smile on his face.</p>
<p>Once the back room was cleared, the group walked across the room to a pair of big red double doors with a star on it.</p>
<p>"At least we know who owns the bank," Johnny said as he examined the locked door.</p>
<p>"Alright people, let's find that vault."</p>
<p>Silas and Johnny stepped back, preparing themselves to kick the doors open. However, Birk once ahead got ahead of himself and ran up to the doors.</p>
<p>"That's right you fuckers! Were comin' for you!" Birk yelled out and kicked the doors, only to stumble back from the force of impact and fall on his ass.</p>
<p>Silas shook his head in amusement as he walked up to the double doors.</p>
<p>"Get up Birk, let's keep moving."</p>
<p>Johnny stood at the doors with Silas and together they kicked open the door. As soon as they entered the room, the Saints and Josh were met with a barrage of bullets and more gang members.</p>
<p>"Hey, how about we leave one of these fuckers alive so we can find out who these people are!" Shaundi yelled out over the gunfire.</p>
<p>"Look, if these guys are shooting at me, I'm shooting back without hesitation!" Gat explained as he shot a hail of bullets at the guards.</p>
<p>"Look, right now all that matters is getting to the vault," Silas explained as he shot down three more guys and ran up the staircase. "Once we get it covered, then we can ask any survivors what we want to know."</p>
<p>The group crossed the wide-open room, taking down more of those guards as they made their way across the large room.</p>
<p>"Is this what it's normally like?" Birk asked, staying close behind Shaundi for cover.</p>
<p>"Well, normally the bank tellers don't use fucking shotguns," Johnny answered him.</p>
<p>"Yeah, normally banks don't look like a palace either," Shaundi added. "How did you pick this place anyway?"</p>
<p>"It's a new bank, I thought we'd break it in and give it the good ole' Stilwater welcome." Gat responded with a smirk.</p>
<p>Silas and the gang made sure the floor was clear of any guards for any sneak attacks and then ran up a flight of stairs to the next floor.</p>
<p>Shaundi was already halfway up to the next floor when a guard jumped down from the upper flight and grabbed her. Silas was about to jump in when Shaundi finally gained the upper hand and shoved the guy into the wall and shot him a few times until the body fell onto the floor.</p>
<p>Silas was impressed, to say the least. Now, she could definitely hold her own in a fight.</p>
<p>"Nice job," Silas told her as he climbed up the rest of the steps.</p>
<p>"Don't be so impressed," Shaundi smirked at him.</p>
<p>The group finally made it to the vault. Birk was hunched forward breathing heavily. The excitement must have been too much for him.</p>
<p>"I…I can't breathe…" he was barely able to say in between breaths.</p>
<p>Shaundi took off her mask as Silas and Johnny had already and walked over to Josh and swatted the mask off him.</p>
<p>Johnny banged a fist on the thick metal vault door, hoping to find a weak spot in it.</p>
<p>"No way we're cracking this thing." Johnny reported to Silas. "Ready for plan B?"</p>
<p>Silas nodded and called for Josh.</p>
<p>"Got the tools right here, homes." Josh said and jogged over toward the vault. Silas turned Birk around and opened the duffel bag, revealing all the tools required for a bomb.</p>
<p>"So, what's plan B?" Josh asked curiously. "We drill it?"</p>
<p>"Fuck no," Johnny told him. "We blow it."</p>
<p>"What?!" Josh squeaked in shock. He tried to turn around but Silas snapped him forward so he could finish prepping the explosives to release the vault. "Not cool man!"</p>
<p>"This is how we do things, Birk." Silas smirked at the now scared actor. "Do you think we're a bunch of pussies now?"</p>
<p>Josh didn't answer him with having anything to come back with.</p>
<p>Silas finally let Josh go and held a readied explosive in his hand. Time to get to work.</p>
<p>He carried the explosive and walked to the next flight of stairs to the room above them.</p>
<p>"We'll need to set those above the vault," Silas informed his crew.</p>
<p>Shaundi and Josh walked over to the windows to look out and noticed something down below.</p>
<p>"Hey, I think we've got company," Josh told them.</p>
<p>Silas ran to the window and saw more of those guards running across the lobby. Some of them stopped and began shooting up at them, making the group step back from the window to take cover.</p>
<p>All of them began shooting down at guards running through the lobby, picking them off one by one.</p>
<p>"Shaundi…" Birk called out in a rather deep voice that Silas could only assume is supposed to be sexy to girls.</p>
<p>"What?" Shaundi snapped back at the actor as she tried to concentrate on the people shooting at them.</p>
<p>"We need to talk."</p>
<p>"We really don't," Shaundi replied shortly. Silas couldn't help but laugh a little at this guy's attempt at hitting on Shaundi with bullets flying past them. He seemed to really have a thing for her. Unfortunately for Birk, he either doesn't seem to get that Shaundi doesn't even like him or just doesn't care.</p>
<p>"It's just…if I die here, I don't want things to go unsaid."</p>
<p>Shaundi rolled her eyes at him. "I should be so lucky."</p>
<p>Once the lobby was cleared of any guards, Silas decided it was okay to finish the job.</p>
<p>The floor above the vault was cleared, with the exception of a Saints fan that was hiding in one of the cubicles. Silas guided her to the stairs and told her it was safe to leave. Before she went down the stairs, the fan asked Silas for an autograph, which he gladly obliged. Josh tried to offer her his autograph only to be declined.</p>
<p>Once the floor was completely cleared, Silas ran across the room and found where the vault is below and planted the explosives on the ground.</p>
<p>With seconds on the timer, the gang ran for cover and jumped into various cubicles. Silas covered Shaundi with his body as debris began to fall.</p>
<p>When it seemed safe, the group peered from their spots and walked over to the now exposed vault.</p>
<p>As Josh got up from his hiding spot under a desk, he noticed a red button hidden underneath.</p>
<p>"Let's get the chopper and lift this baby out of here." Silas instructed Shaundi and Johnny.</p>
<p>"Hey guys, call off the helicopter. I found the way to open the vault! "</p>
<p>Silas Johnny and Shaundi all turned around to face Birk. They saw him lean over to press the red button and quickly tried to stop him.</p>
<p>"DON'T TOUCH IT!" Johnny yelled but it was too late. As soon as Josh pressed the button the alarm went off all around the room and through the entire building.</p>
<p>Josh looked at them clearly confused at what was going on.</p>
<p>"Josh, are you trying to get us all jail time?!" Shaundi scolded the actor.</p>
<p>Silas shook his head. He did not know how he was going to convince Troy to go easy on them with this.</p>
<p>The confused look was gone and Josh now paced back and forth in panic.</p>
<p>"What? I don't wanna be some dudes bitch!"</p>
<p>With those final words, Birk gained his bearings and ran off, leaving Silas Johnny and Shaundi to deal with the mess he now caused.</p>
<p>"Do I have to go after him?" Shaundi asked Silas, clearly hoping that she didn't have to.</p>
<p>"Forget about it, he'll be fine." Johnny answered her and Silas nodded in agreement. Josh Birk was the least of their concerns now. In a matter of moments, the bank was going to be swarmed with SWAT and they still have to deal with the gang shooting at them.</p>
<p>The helicopter was still some ways away, so they were going to have to deal with the impending SWAT team heading their way because of Birks blunder.</p>
<p>"Troy is really going to love this when he finds out we beat up his SWAT team." Silas said as he paced toward the window.</p>
<p>Silas could hear the SWAT choppers heading their way, probably a couple of blocks away by now. With the remaining time they had left, the Saints prepared themselves for the attack. SWAT just loved to give them a hard time.</p>
<p>Finally, the ropes dropped from above and the first wave of officers came sliding down and crashing through the windows.</p>
<p>One of them threw a flashbang that Silas wasn't prepared for and got hit with the sudden brightness that blinded him temporarily. Luckily, he didn't need to aim his gun and relied on his excellent hearing to guide him. Taking cover behind a cubicle, Silas began to carefully shoot the officers one at a time until his sight came back and joined Johnny and Shaundi in the thick of the battle. He didn't kill them but just grazed them enough to incapacitate them. He didn't want them to get killed if he could help it.</p>
<p>"I'm going to kill Birk when I see him again!" Shaundi yelled out as she shot down an officer sliding down a rope.</p>
<p>"I thought you two really had something there." Silas joked only to receive a deadly glare from Shaundi in return.</p>
<p>"Oh don't even go there!"</p>
<p>"Hey, just sayin'."</p>
<p>After the traded words between the two friends, Silas and Shaundi went back to SWAT teams still dropping in.</p>
<p>"The chopper should be here soon," Johnny informed them, much to their relief. "We just gotta hold out a little longer."</p>
<p>That was fine with him. He had enough ammo to go for a while. Even if he didn't, he still had his own built-in weapons he could use.</p>
<p>Up above the destroyed ceiling of the bank they could see a chopper quickly flying towards them. Getting a better look, Silas could determine that this chopper was not from Stilwater PD. From the red and black color scheme on the body, Silas was able to guess who it belonged to.</p>
<p>"Really?! A fucking attack chopper!" Shaundi groaned in exasperation.</p>
<p>The chopper began shooting at them, fortunately missing all three of them when they ran for cover. When the chopper stopped shooting, the Saints used this opportunity to take their shot and began pelting the chopper with bullets from their weapons.</p>
<p>To their surprise, their bullets from their rifles and shotguns barely penetrated that armor on the chopper. Luckily what they had given to the chopper seemed to be enough to send it flying away. Even more luck for them, their own chopper could be seen flying over the bank and ready to lift the vault out.</p>
<p>Johnny and Shaundi took out the remainder of the officers still fighting while Silas directed the chopper where to descend. Once it was low enough, Silas quickly secured the vault to the rig and gave the OK for the pilot to go with him standing on top of the vault.</p>
<p>While gradually being lifted by the chopper, Silas gave Johnny and Shaundi the cover they needed to help them get rid of the rest of the officers still bothering them.</p>
<p>"You two go out the back!" he told his Lt's as he shot down a few more officers running at his friends.</p>
<p>"And you?" Shaundi asked him before escaping down the stairway.</p>
<p>"I'm staying with the vault," Silas told her. "I'll cover you guys!"</p>
<p>"We'll see you when we touch down!" Shaundi said before leaving down the stairway with Johnny.</p>
<p>"Alright let's go!" Silas hollered to the pilot. The pilot began lifting the helicopter back up but he did it too fast and made the sway way too much for Silas's comfort.</p>
<p>"Hold her steady!"</p>
<p>"Where'd all this security come from?" the pilot frantically asked. At first, Silas didn't know what the pilot was talking about until he lifted the chopper up to the roof of the building and Silas saw the swarm of the SWAT team landing on the rooftop.</p>
<p>"Stay calm and stick to the plan!" Silas ordered the pilot. Before they could escape, the SWAT team began shooting at Silas and the chopper both, trying to get either or both down.</p>
<p>In the corner of his eye, Silas saw something coming towards him. Glancing to his side, he saw the attack chopper from the gang flying toward him. Of all the things that could've shown up, Silas really didn't want to deal with a fucking attack chopper right now.</p>
<p>"I thought I shot that thing down!" he yelled to himself and began shooting at it, hoping to hit a weak spot in its armor. Unfortunately, he had no luck as the chopper still remained in the air.</p>
<p>"Troy can't get you out of this one!" Silas heard the commanding officer say over the megaphone. It seems everyone knows about Troy's leniency toward the Saints but they did not care for it as long as they could attempt to arrest them when they could.</p>
<p>Silas ignored the officer and tried his best not to kill these guys and give the police more charges to add to this theft.</p>
<p>One of the officers shot a rocket at the vault, making it, and the chopper, shake violently from the explosion. Silas lost his footing and toppled off the vault. He managed to catch himself by stabbing his claws into the metal. They couldn't go too far into the metal but went in just enough for Silas to hold on and gain his bearings when he staggered to one of the corners and held on to the wires hold up the vault where he began shooting at the SWAT again.</p>
<p>"Make this easy on the squad for once!" the commanding officer told Silas. He chose to ignore him and continued shooting at them.</p>
<p>Another SWAT chopper came flying just above Silas. The doors opened and one of the officers leaned out a bit and began shooting at him. Silas aimed his gun and shot at the officer's leg. The chopper quickly retreated to take the officer to get some medical attention.</p>
<p>"Why are we still here?" Silas asked the pilot when the red attack chopper came back for another round with Silas.</p>
<p>"The controls aren't responding!" the pilot answered back frantically.</p>
<p>"Shit! Then get it fixed! I'll hold the cops!"</p>
<p>Silas covered himself from another explosion as the red chopper shot down the police chopper into the bank building. The red chopper then turned its attention toward the vault and Silas.</p>
<p>"You can't kill them all!"</p>
<p>"I don't appreciate that kind of negativity!" Silas responded as he shot at the police chopper and then the red chopper.</p>
<p>"This publicity stunt is over!" the officer said to Silas over the megaphone. "We have to take you in!"</p>
<p>Silas was not going to give up so easily. He wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of catching him. He could see their numbers dwindling as more and more officers began falling from their injuries. All Silas had to do was hold out just a little longer.</p>
<p>But that damn red chopper kept popping up and taking Silas's focus away from the police. More bullets came flying at Silas, making him retreat to the back of the vault to hide.</p>
<p>"Get us out here!" Silas ordered the pilot.</p>
<p>"I'm trying not to get shot here!" the pilot frantically responded back.</p>
<p>The pilot managed to get the chopper going again and started flying off. Unfortunately, he didn't lift the helicopter high enough and the vault ended up crashing through the bank's wall with Silas holding on for dear life.</p>
<p>More bullets came his way so Silas held on to the side with one hand and began shooting his gun with the other.</p>
<p>The red chopper returned and Silas quickly turned his attention and gun on it and began shooting at it as well.</p>
<p>"How much armor is on that thing?!"</p>
<p>The chopper flew past him, nearly making Silas lose his grip on the vault.</p>
<p>Silas climbed back up and rolled back onto his feet.</p>
<p>The chopper was getting hit pretty heavily. Silas could hear the pilot cursing as the chopper was nearly hit with a rocket and bumped into the building across the street from the bank.</p>
<p>"Dammit, watch where you're flying!" Silas yelled out to the pilot. He didn't mean to sound so mean but he almost fell off the vault.</p>
<p>Silas grabbed hold of the metal wires again and continued to shoot down the officers still shooting at him from the rooftop. The officers were becoming less and less, most of them began dropping their weapons and retreating rather than get shot by Silas or that red chopper that kept popping up. This was good. Victory was imminent for the Saints.</p>
<p>"Drop the vault!" the commanding officer ordered Silas. As if he was going to listen to him.</p>
<p>The chopper jerked again, making Silas stumble around and nearly fall off the side. Silas managed to catch himself by hanging on to the cables holding the vault to the chopper. However, this wasn't good for him now that he was exposed to the cops and had only one hand to fight with while the other held onto the vault.</p>
<p>The red chopper came back to fight again. This time, looking in bad shape with smoke coming out and the windows looking cracked. Silas just needed to get in a few good shots then he won't have to deal with it anymore and he could fly off with the vault to the hideout.</p>
<p>This time, the red chopper faced Silas head-on, a big mistake on that pilot's part. The bulletproof windows were no longer so bulletproof with all the damage it took.</p>
<p>Still hanging on to the side of the vault, Silas aimed his gun at the window of the red chopper and began shooting all his bullets into the window, shattering it and exposing the pilot. The remainder of his bullets hit the pilot, killing him and sending the chopper flying out of control.</p>
<p>For a moment, Silas was filled with relief at finally dealing with the red chopper. His victory was cut short as the out of control chopper flew his way.</p>
<p>"NO NO NO!" he repeated as he braced himself for the impact. The red chopper hit his chopper and like some cosmic joke, crashed right through it, sending the vault plummeting to the street below.</p>
<p>Silas jumped off the vault just in time and caught himself on the edge of one of the broken windows. He looked down and watched the vault crash onto the street, breaking the concrete on impact.</p>
<p>Silas couldn't help but feel a little remorseful at the thought of how much work was put into getting that vault, only to end up with nothing.</p>
<p><em>At least the cops didn't catch me</em>, Silas thought as he lifted himself through the window and rolled onto the floor landing on his back. With his eyes closed, Silas relaxed to take in the events that transpired.</p>
<p>The sudden clicking of guns made Silas' eyes snap open to find himself surrounded by fully armed SWAT officers with their semi-automatic guns aimed at every part of Silas.</p>
<p>Two of the officers moved to make room for their commanding officer, a guy named Ben Fordman, a guy Silas knew well and hated. He always gave the Saints a hard time.</p>
<p>"Well well well." Fordman sneered down at Silas. "Looky here boys, we caught ourselves the big fish himself."</p>
<p>"I guess an apology isn't going to cut it this time?" Silas asked mockingly.</p>
<p>Fordman only shook his head. "The only thing that's going to cut it is you getting arrested along with your Lieutenants."</p>
<p>
  <em>SHIT! They got Johnny and Shaundi too!</em>
</p>
<p>"Alright boys," Fordman addressed the squad. "Book him."</p>
<p>Silas sighed a deep breath as the officers lifted him from the floor and cuffed him.</p>
<p>
  <em>Well, I hope Troy is in a good mood.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Fight Flight or both</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Silas Johnny and Shaundi meet Phillipe Loren and are introduced to the Syndicate.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>The Demon Wolf of Steelport</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>CH.2</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Fight Flight or Both</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Silas and the Saints might have Stilwater in the palm of their hands but that did not mean everyone was okay with it. Ben Fordman was one of them.</p>
<p>Behind Troy, Fordman was the most powerful man in Sliwater's law enforcement and half of the reason for Troy's stress. Unlike most of the city's law enforcement and other individuals of the city that hold a great deal of influence, Silas could not pay this guy off. He refused to take any money that the Saints and even Ultor offered him to turn a blind eye, stating that he refused to be bought with criminal money.</p>
<p>While it might seem like he is taking the high road, it was far from it.</p>
<p>Ben Fordman was a police captain in Mission Beach who, under Dane Vogel's reign, had become head of the Masako, Ultor's private army here in Stilwater. Vogel chose him personally when he saw that Fordman was infamous for serving his own personal brand of police justice, amongst other things. With their likemindedness, Vogel and Fordman ran the city like they wanted by targeting what they considered the dregs of Stilwater.</p>
<p>Then everything changed when Silas returned and brought the Saints back from the dead. One by one, the revamped gang took out the Brotherhood, Ronin and Samedi, forcing Vogel and Fordman to confront Silas and his gang that threatened everything they worked for. They expected it to be easy enough, thinking that the Saints and their leader was like any other street gang. Boy, were they wrong.</p>
<p>Silas had proven to them that the Saints were more than what they seem and that he was more than some gang leader. Vogel had learned that the hard way when he saw the monster that Silas hid from the public. Officially, Vogel's death was ruled as a suicide, a self-inflicted gunshot to his throat that decapitated his head which explained why his head landed before his body at the bottom of the Philips building. However, workers tending to the autopsy could not see any gun residue but did see that the neck had tears in the skin that are associated with animal attacks. Large animals, in fact. However, Troy convinced them that Vogel did indeed die by shooting himself and that there was no way an animal could possibly be involved in this.</p>
<p>Not wanting to argue with the Chief of Police and not caring about Dane Vogel's death, the autopsy was questioned no further and the case was closed.</p>
<p>Ben Fordman was another case. He pled that he had no idea what Vogel had planned and was nothing more than a soldier doing what he was told to do by his superior and thought he was doing right by cleaning the city. Fordman would have served time but amazingly enough, many high profile citizens of Stilwater had come as character witnesses on behalf of Fordman, urging the Judge to let him go and resume his job as an Officer. Turns out, Fordman had dirt on these people and threatened to expose it all if they did not help him.</p>
<p>Now, Fordman was out and head of Stilwater's newly christened SWAT division composed of officers Fordman hand-picked himself, thanks to the generous donations from Stilwater's prominent citizens. However, he still had to work under Troy's command and that often had him butting heads with the Chief of Police who wanted to fire the man who constantly abused his power but nothing he had been accused of could stick and nobody was willing to back-up the accusations in fear of retaliation which allowed the man to keep his badge and privilege he openly flaunted.</p>
<p>The Saints have been a thorn in Fordman's side these past five years and to be honest, it was amusing to Silas and the others. They were untouchable since they defeated Vogel and allied with Monica Hughes. Then they became even more so when they signed contracts with Ultor. It made the man sick to his stomach that a bunch of street thugs had become global sensations when they should be in jail or dead. It made him even more disgusted that they took and twisted Vogel's plans for the city and took full credit for it. He hated that the Saints were so loved by the people for what they have done and how the same people he had to threaten to help him were so willing to support the Saints in their endeavors. What disgusted him the most is how the Chief of Police still kept his friendship with the Saints. Which is why he is running against him for Chief of Police. Nothing would make Fordman happier than to take that position from Troy and run the city's Law Enforcement the way he wanted. He would wage war against the Saints and Silas can't have that happening.</p>
<p>The Saints have managed to keep a clean(er) image of themselves, thanks to all the good they did for Stilwater and Ultor's PR department, which made it difficult for Fordman to keep any member of the Saints behind bars for long if they were even lucky to reach the holding cells. The Saints practically have the entire city paid off to let them go when they get caught red-handed.</p>
<p>But now, after the stunt they pulled today, Silas knew they were going to need nothing short of a miracle to get out of this mess. He doubted Troy would be able to help them out of this mess, not with how he has been acting lately. He couldn't blame him. He will just have to hope that his payment for the month will be enough to hold up. If not, he was going to have to resort to drastic measures and call Gryphon and that was something he did not want to do.</p>
<p>"You must be thinking about all the ways you can get out of this situation, aren't ya?" Fordman said from his seat across from Silas in the SWAT van. The guy has never looked even more smug than he did now.</p>
<p>Silas kept a calm demeanor as he listened to Fordman mock him. It wasn't that he was stuck here. He could easily get out of the van. Use not even a minuscule of his strength to snap the cuffs on his wrist like cheap plastic and use his claws to easily rip through the metal walls of the van and jump out. The urge was there and strong, as was the one to attack Fordman and his cronies but Silas knew better. He knew he had to wait until he got to the station to make the call to Gryphon and get himself and the others free.</p>
<p><em>That won't be a pleasant call, </em>Silas thought to himself. Gryphon was already upset with the delay of the Saints movie, this would no doubt send the man in a frenzy knowing that his big star has been arrested and the footage has no doubt gone viral. The PR Department was going to have a field day trying to figure out how to spin this in a positive way.</p>
<p>"Got nothing to say, punk?" Fordman continued on when Silas refused to react. "I'm just trying to make this ride to the station more fun. I bet my boys are having a real fun time with your little lady Saint in the other van."</p>
<p>Silas' eyes hardened to a deathly glare at the SWAT leader before him who smiled a toothy smile at the reaction he was getting. Fordman knew he touched a nerve and he was going to go further while he can.</p>
<p>"Oh yeah, my boys really like that Shaundi. I've seen the poster of her they put up in the locker rooms in the station and they were more than excited to arrest her when we got to the bank. They really took their time frisking her for any dangerous weapons."</p>
<p>God, did Silas want to tear out this guy's tongue out through his throat to get him to stop talking. Nothing would please him more than to end his life. It took every ounce of his willpower to stay calm.</p>
<p>"Don't even think about complaining to Troy." Fordman added. "You're buddy is not looking too good in the polls, last time I checked. His position as Chief of Police is hanging by a thread because of his association with you criminals. I guess you guys are not as popular as you thought you were."</p>
<p>Taking a deep calming breath, Silas leaned back against the metal wall of the vehicle and smiled back at Fordman.</p>
<p>"Is that why you hate us? Because we are so popular?"</p>
<p>"I hate you because you guys are corrupting the city." Fordman stated. "Making citizens believe that criminals like you are the good guys while those that actually are the good</p>
<p>"Corrupting the city?" Silas laughed. "I'm sorry where have we been living in the same city? Do you remember what the city was before the Saints took over? It was the Mecca of gang warfare. When we took over, we changed that. Have you not seen the progress when you step out of your front door?"</p>
<p>"What I see every day is the work of criminals! Gangsters and it makes me sick! What's worse is that our own Chief of Police is on your payroll letting you all run the city."</p>
<p>"Troy is not on our payroll and you know it!" Silas exclaimed angrily. He knew he should not let his anger get the better of him but this man has been testing his patience. "He has never taken a cent of our money but you'd rather twist the truth to fit your narrative that Troy is corrupt to hide the fact that you are the one that is corrupt."</p>
<p>It was Ben Fordman's turn to be angry. His smug smile turned to a frown and his expression darkened as he glowered at the Saint leader.</p>
<p>"As for the polls, we all know that the only reason you are ahead of Troy is that you blackmailed all the movers and shakers in Stilwater into supporting you. You know you can't win without rigging the election and do a smear campaign on a truly decent guy like Troy Bradshaw, who is a way better guy than you, and you why that is, Fordman? Because he doesn't need to lower himself to your level. So, stop acting like you're a goddamn Saint." Silas smiled. "Pun not intended."</p>
<p>Silas could see the restraint Fordman was using to hold himself from doing something stupid. The guy loved to dish out trash talk but god forbid it gets flung back at him.</p>
<p>Before anything else could be said between the two, the van began to slow to a halt as it reached its destination.</p>
<p>Silas sighed as he hated the thought of being in a cell at the mercy of these fools for god knows how long before the bail money arrives. No doubt Fordman will try to take as long as he can to process everything before he and Johnny and Shaundi are set free.</p>
<p>In the station, Silas was marched through the halls like he was some goddam prize that Fordman won. Silas knew the station well enough to know that it does not take as long as it did today to get to the booking station and be placed in a cell. He just wanted this day to be over with already.</p>
<p>"Can I make my call now?" an annoyed Silas asked for the fifth time already as he sat cuffed in an uncomfortable chair with two armed guards on either side of him. Fordman was taking a call at the moment and the guards watching him were told to ignore him. "You can't deny my right to make my one phone call."</p>
<p>The guards continued to ignore him.</p>
<p>"Seriously, what the fuck is this? I know we paid you guys this month!"</p>
<p>"Well, someone doubled the price to keep you locked up and I was more than obliged." came Fordman's voice. "You know what, I would've done it for free but this is even better."</p>
<p>Silas turned to see the prideful sneer on the man's face had returned to him as he ordered the guards to take him to the holding cells below the station.</p>
<p>What the hell? Who wants to pay to keep him and the others locked up? This day could not possibly get any worse.</p>
<p>"Who paid you guys?" he asked the guards.</p>
<p>"They chose to remain anonymous."</p>
<p>When they made it to the cells, Silas spotted Johnny and Shaundi sitting in the same one.</p>
<p>Hearing the door open, both Saint Lt's looked up and were shocked to see their boss was being escorted in as well.</p>
<p>"Boss!" Shaundi exclaimed and shot up from the bench bolted to the wall.</p>
<p>One of the guards stepped forward to open the door and the other uncuffed and shoved Silas into the grimey cell before locking it.</p>
<p>"I never got to make my goddamn call!" Silas angrily said to the guards as they made their way to the exit.</p>
<p>"Payphone is broken," is all one of them said to explain the situation, which was bullshit.</p>
<p>Silas yelled back at them only to be ignored by them once more before they departed from the room and locked the door.</p>
<p>Annoyed, exhausted, and a little thirsty, Silas sighed and turned around to face his friends in the cell with him.</p>
<p>Shaundi approached him and gave him a tight hug that he reciprocated. The contact calmed him down somewhat and he began to relax. Johnny, on the other hand, remained in his little corner of the cell with his back leaned against the wall and his arms crossed on his chest.</p>
<p>"When I saw the vault fall to the ground, I thought for sure you went with it." Shaundi said to him. "I honestly thought you were a goner, Silas."</p>
<p>Silas let out a small chuckle as they broke apart. "The world isn't going to get rid of me that easily. No matter how hard someone tries."</p>
<p>"How are you doing buddy?" Silas asked Johnny, who remained stoic as ever.</p>
<p>When Silas did not get a response from his second in command, he turned to Shaundi who shrugged her</p>
<p>shoulders.</p>
<p>"He's been like this since we got caught."</p>
<p>Silas nodded his head. He knew what this must be about and walked over to Johnny.</p>
<p>"Hey man look, it's not your fault that we got arrested. That little bitch Birk was the one that had to press the button and Fordman is just trying to get brownie points to make himself look good for the election."</p>
<p>"I know it's not my fault." Johnny growled at him. Looking up at him, Silas could see through the purple tint of his glasses that Johnny is angry. "Why the fuck are you assuming that I am blaming myself?"</p>
<p>Silas was taken aback by the sudden outburst from his friend. He knew things had been rocky between them but this wasn't like Johnny at all.</p>
<p>"Well, this heist was your idea and <em>you </em>wanted to continue with the job even when I said I had a bad feeling about this as soon as we got to the bank."</p>
<p>"Is this true Johnny?" a surprised Shaundi asked him.</p>
<p>Johnny paced around the cell, rubbing the back of his neck while he shook his head with guilt.</p>
<p>"Look, we needed to do this. We are a gang above all else but lately, we have done nothing gang-related in forever. What the hell happened to us?"</p>
<p>"We evolved Johnny!" Silas practically yelled at him. His patience was already wearing thin when he got to the station and now with Johnny's poor excuse had taken what was left of it and now he could not hold back what he was feeling anymore. "The Saints are more than just some street gang!"</p>
<p>"We haven't evolved! We got weak!" Johnny shouted and got in Silas' face, both of them equal in height. Silas remained rooted where he stood. "And this situation just proves that others think that too!"</p>
<p>Johnny stepped back, still fuming. "Birk was right. We traded our dicks in for pussies! Seriously...Movie deals? Commercials? The Saint's name used to mean more than fuckin' body spray and ass-tasting energy drinks."</p>
<p>Silas had to admit that Johnny was right. Since they partnered with Ultor, the Saints have acquired so much money and fame but in doing so they became a shell of what they used to be. They were more like a business than a gang with Ultor calling the shots.</p>
<p>"You know what, I don't recall you complaining about this when Gryphon first approached us with the offer." Silas scoffed as he took his turn and got in Johnny's face. "We <em>all</em> voted to work with Ultor, including you, Johnny. We all agreed to do what Ultor asked of us as long as we got what we wanted in return. You seemed to enjoy the perks of being rich and famous these last few years, so why now? Why are you acting like this?"</p>
<p>"Because I never thought we'd turn into sellouts!" Johnny pushed Silas back, surprising Silas and Shaundi both. "Yet here we are. Taking orders from some guy in an office thousands of miles away. I mean we cannot even jack a car unless Gryphon sanctions it! And now, three gangs infiltrated our city right under our noses and declared war on us! You're a fuckin' vampire and a werewolf and yet you could not sense any of them! Maybe if your head wasn't so far up Gryphon's ass, this wouldn't have happened!"</p>
<p>Silas marched forward and punched Johnny in the jaw, knocking the man down on the ground. This was ridiculous but Johnny was going too far.</p>
<p>He regretted it though. He regretted hitting his best friend as soon as he swung his fist.</p>
<p>Shaundi dropped down to the floor to check on Johnny.</p>
<p>"Johnny...I...I'm sorry." Silas stammered his apology. He crouched down to help Johnny up but Johnny smacked his hand away and got up on his own, wiping the small trail of blood from his mouth. "It's...it's been so busy and I've been stressed out. Gryphon has been on me about all kinds of shit and trying to make sure our brand remains a top seller."</p>
<p>Johnny shook his head and spat out a wad of bloody spit onto the concrete floor.</p>
<p>"Is that what it's all about?" Johnny calmly asked him. "The money? Fame?"</p>
<p>Absolutely not. Silas wanted to say that to Johnny. He wanted to tell him that preserving the name and making sure what they worked so hard on, the lives that were sacrificed would not be wasted.</p>
<p>"It's always about the money, Mr. Gat." an unfamiliar voice interrupted before Silas could say express his thoughts.</p>
<p>The three Saints turned their eyes to the entrance to see two women, identical twins to be exact and even wearing the same outfit with the only difference being the color of their sunglasses perched on their perfect ponytail hairstyle heads.</p>
<p>They were not alone though. Following them into the room entered a small group of Morningstar that surrounded the girls protectively.</p>
<p><em>So, this is who must have paid double to keep them locked up</em>, Silas thought, glaring at the group. One of the three gangs that have been antagonizing them for weeks.</p>
<p>"Which is why our employer wishes to speak with you." The twin with the white sunglasses continued to explain their reasoning for being here.</p>
<p>"If you'll indulge us." The twin with the pink sunglasses added.</p>
<p>It was clearly not an option to decline and Silas was not in a position to do so. These guys managed to evade the Saints in their own city for weeks and paid a shit ton of money to keep them in police custody just to have this meeting.</p>
<p>It seemed a bit much just to gain an audience with him but Silas thinks it was more than that. This gang, their leader, whoever they are, wanted to give the Saints a taste of who they were dealing with before meeting face to face.</p>
<p>Silas was a little impressed, he had to admit to the lengths their leader went through to get to this point.</p>
<p>With no choice but to agree, Silas and his lieutenants went along with them, each Saint being escorted separately in one of the three Morningstar cars parked in the station's lot. It was a smart move to keep the Saints separate in the event that they try to escape before the meeting begins. Truthfully, Silas wanted to stay and see the man that has been making his life hell.</p>
<p>The cars turned into the Stilwater airport and drove to one of the private hangars on the other side of the runway where a large plane waited to be boarded.</p>
<p>Silas was taken out of the car, cuffs on his hands and guards surrounding him with guns at the ready. He wasn't afraid of guns. Unless they were silver bullets laced with wolfsbane or vervain then he had nothing to worry about. It was Johnny and Shuandi he was worried about and why he was willing to cooperate with the Morningstar. He did not want his friends to get hurt because unlike him, they were not as impervious to bullets as him.</p>
<p>Shaundi and Johnny were brought out of their own separate cars in the same fashion as he was and were escorted to the plane.</p>
<p>Silas caught a glimpse of the name on the side of the aircraft; Steelport Airlines.</p>
<p>So, these guys are from Steelport. Silas knows the neighboring city well. Shaundi describes the city as 'Bangkok's abusive father' as she used to spring break in Steelport during her college years. Silas however, has his own personal memories of the industrial city, having visited it a long, long time ago.</p>
<p>Silas and his lieutenants were led through the plane and placed in a room and cuffed to their seats. The room was decorated like that of a villain you see all the time on television. It was dimly lit, in the color of the Morningstar gang no less, and there was a bar to the side fully stocked with beverages and in the center of the room was a large horseshoe-shaped desk and black leather chair bolted to the floor facing a large TV mounted on the wall behind.</p>
<p>The three Saints waited in silence for the leader of the Morningstar to greet them. When the plane began to move and ascend into the sky. They were being taken out of Stilwater, to some unknown location!</p>
<p>This was making Silas worry, enough that it made him feel off. Weak and queasy, though, he chucked that to the plane's elevating altitude though he has never had a problem with flying before like this.</p>
<p>"Silas, what are we going to do!" A worried Shaundi asked him as she wiggled in her seat trying to escape. Johnny had been trying to break the cuffs since they were left alone in the room, with no luck so far. "They are going to take us somewhere and kill us!"</p>
<p>"Were gonna get out of here." Silas assured her with a smile to hide his own discomfort and glanced at Johnny, who remained silent and angry at Silas still.</p>
<p>Silas pulled on the cuffs that kept him restrained to his chair. Once he gets out, he is going to get Shaundi and Johnny released and take out the son of a bitch gang leader that does not have the balls to appear before them and then commandeer the plane and take it back to Stilwater.</p>
<p>Silas pulled on the cuffs but to his shock, not only did nothing happen, he felt a numbness in his hands. He couldn't feel anything. With his strength, he should have been able to break the restraints with the minimalist of efforts but yet, he could not break them.</p>
<p>"Oh shit!" Silas breathed out, his eyes widened in shock.</p>
<p>Both of his lieutenants turned to him.</p>
<p>"What's the matter?" Johnny asked him, talking to him for the first time since leaving the police station.</p>
<p>"I can't break the cuffs!" Silas told them as he continued his futile attempt to pull them apart.</p>
<p>"How is that possible?" Shaundi asked. "I've seen you tear apart thicker metal than this!"</p>
<p>"Unless it's silver." Johnny added with a sigh. Silas was glad his friend was talking to him but could sense the lingering anger in Johnny. "You know what that means."</p>
<p>Silas nodded his head. "Yeah...they know what I am. Even worse, I think they have been rubbed with wolfsbane. It's making me feel sick and my hands have gone numb."</p>
<p>"Oh my god." Shaundi muttered.</p>
<p>The conversation was abruptly interrupted with the door on the other side of the room opening up and the twin sisters entering the room with the small entourage of Morningstar following behind. Seems like the sisters never go anywhere without them.</p>
<p>"I thought we were going to meet your boss?" Silas angrily asked the twins. "They go through all of this trouble to get our attention and make us wait all this time. Like this." he tugged on his cuffs a bit. "These, by the way, are just plain rude."</p>
<p>"I apologize for that." came a new voice, this one was male with a strong french accent, followed by the man who spoke walking through the doorway the twin sisters and the Morningstar soldiers came through. "I was finishing a discussion with some colleagues."</p>
<p>The man looked like a Bond villain in every way possible from the expensive suit he wore to the perfectly combed grey head of hair. Even the refined way he walked to his desk and swiftly sat down and took a cigarette from the gold plated case he carried and lit it before returning his attention to the Saints.</p>
<p>"I must also apologize for the restraints." The head of the Morningstar continued after blowing out a thick puff of smoke and tapping the ash from his cigarette. "But you have quite the reputation, Mr. Grayson. Or do you prefer...the Demon Wolf?"</p>
<p>Silas shouldn't have been surprised hearing that name coming from this man's mouth considering the special cuffs that he was wearing. However, hearing that name from him, from a man he has never seen in his life, he could not help but be surprised. Not many people alive today know that name or that part of his life and the ones that do are either his friends or enemies and this guy was clearly not a friend.</p>
<p>"Who the fuck are you?" Silas growled at him. He truly wanted to know. Was he Venatore or from some other hunting group? "How do you know that name?"</p>
<p>There was no point in denying the truth. This man knew something that was privy to a select group of people and Silas knew all of them.</p>
<p>The man just smiled at him. Apparently, telling the truth was something he appreciated.</p>
<p>"These visions are Viola," he gestured to the twin with the white sunglasses to his left and then to the other with the pink sunglasses to his right. "And Kiki. My name is Phillipe Loren, leader of the Morningstar and Chairman of the multinational organization called the Syndicate."</p>
<p>"Never heard of it." Shaundi retorted snarkily. "Or you."</p>
<p>"You must be pretty small beans if you haven't made it famous in the city next door." Johnny added with a cocky smile.</p>
<p>"Or maybe we just have yet to make ourselves known to you, until now." Phillipe countered in return. "As for your second question Mr. Grayson, I like to research any potential partners and you, my friend, were not only difficult to look up but were also an interesting read. You have a very enticing and...bloody history."</p>
<p>Silas was impressed that the man found anything on him. His life, his eighteen hundred years on this planet have been shrouded hidden away from the general public but Silas was always unpredictable. It's what made him so difficult to catch. His own history trail is so scattered that even he can't remember everything he's done or the places he's been.</p>
<p>This guy is either one of the best scholars out there or he has connections with very powerful people to find things about him.</p>
<p>Silas glanced at the man's right hand to see if a particular ring was present on his forefinger. Just like the one he wears on a thin chain around his neck next to the small silver wolf medallion. The Venatore pass out rings to their members upon being accepted. The ring wasn't just a way to show you're a member of the secret society of Hunters. In order for mere humans to hunt the supernatural, they had to level the playing field and found a way to do so without becoming the very monsters they hunt. The gem in the ring is special as it gives the wearer increased strength, speed, and dexterity, and even immortality. So long as you wear the ring.</p>
<p>However, Silas did not see such a ring on Phillipe's finger so the idea that the man is Venatore was thrown out the window and he concluded that this man, given his station, has powerful connections and used them to dig up dirt on him.</p>
<p>If this man has done his research then he has to know how dangerous he is. The cuffs are proof that he has an idea but like most people who think they can handle dangerous predators tend to get in over their heads and end up with a missing limb or worse. Silas is going to have to prove he is everything Loren has read about him.</p>
<p>With his secret already out, Silas had no need to hide his true self and needed to scare this man and show he is in way over his head.</p>
<p>He closed his eyes as he began to feel his facial features change. This was a different kind of change, not like the one that happens on the full moon. He still kept his human form, but his face became something else. You can say it is a bit of a sneak peek of the monster that is hiding underneath the skin.</p>
<p>His brow became more prominent and bumpy as if he was scowling at the enemies before him. His eyes also changed. No longer were they the beautiful aqua blue color but a menacing bloody red color that glared at the Morningstar.</p>
<p>Silas let out a deep menacing growl that sounded similar to a lion's rumble in his chest and rose through his opened mouth, revealing the sharp elongated upper canines and incisors that had changed along with his face.</p>
<p>The Morningstar guards raise their guns in fright at the sight. He couldn't help but smile at their reaction. Even the twins stepped back a bit, wide-eyed and frightened at seeing the true face Silas hides. The only one who remained unphased by the sight before him was Phillipe Loren who continued to calmly smoke his cigarette.</p>
<p>"Is this supposed to intimidate me, Mr. Grayson?" Loren casually asked him, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side. "I already know what you are."</p>
<p>"Do you?" Silas snarled at him before turning his face back to normal. "You took a dangerous creature and captured it. If you were a smart man, you would know that this is a dumb idea. So, I am going to ask, do you really know who the fuck you're dealing with here?"</p>
<p>"Of course." Loren smiled and turned his chair to the left and opened a drawer and took out a bobble-headed figure of Silas and placed it on the desk and flicked the figure's head to make it bob around. "A remarkable likeness, if I do say so myself. Now, back to the matter at hand if you don't mind."</p>
<p>"As you might have noticed for a while now in Stilwater, my people have been...busy around your town."</p>
<p>"You mean harassing, spying, and blowing up my buildings and killing my soldiers!" Silas yelled, his voice getting louder with each word he spoke. "All the while entering <em>my</em> city without an invitation! And then to already expand in Stilwater without "</p>
<p>Loren raised his hands. "I know my actions were a bit...extreme...but I needed to get your attention."</p>
<p>Silas shook his head. "This wasn't to gain our attention. This...business proposal or whatever, could have easily been scheduled with a simple phone call. No, you wanted to show off the power of your Syndicate before we meet face to face. I'd be impressed if I wasn't angry."</p>
<p>"And I apologize for that. I want us to be friends and combine our factions together in order to prosper and wish for no bad blood between us."</p>
<p>"Too late for that, man." Gat chimed in on the conversation. Silas was surprised that Johnny had remained silent for so long. "The day you decided to mess with us is the day you ruined any chances of a partnership with the Saints."</p>
<p>Silas could feel Loren getting more annoyed with them. This man clearly did not like the fact they kept rejecting his offer but he wasn't the type to give up so easily.</p>
<p>"Rejecting my offer would be unwise."Loren said calmly though his voice had a menacing undertone to it. "I would rethink your answer before I take back my offer. What do you think?"</p>
<p>"I'm thinking about why my foot's not up your ass at this point." Johnny responded to the question.</p>
<p>Silas and Shaundi snickered at Johnny's response and the mildly offended look on Loren's face at the answer he was given. It was good to know this guy has a limit and it seems they have reached it.</p>
<p>Standing up, Phillipe Loren put out the cigarette in the black ashtray on his and walked over to the restrained Saints.</p>
<p>"Like it or not, my organization is expanding in Stilwater. The bank you attempted to rob is the first of many establishments under my name I plan on building in your city. Now, I am offering you the chance to leverage your assets against your lives"</p>
<p>"Our lives?" Silas repeated questioningly. "I thought you wanted to be friends. Now you're threatening us into agreeing to your offer."</p>
<p>"I said it as a formality." Loren explained to him. "I normally do not have to explain myself but you and your lieutenants have made me forgo the niceties and become less subtle. Now back to the matter at hand. Ladies?"</p>
<p>Loren gestured to the twin sisters who immediately sauntered to the large screen on the wall behind the desk and turned it on to reveal a pie chart with their gang's name and the Syndicate just beneath, each with the color of their respective gangs. The Syndicate's pink color was dominating the pie chart and Silas can only imagine what it was for.</p>
<p>"You may continue to operate the Saints/Ultor media group as you see fit." The twin, Viola, began the little presentation. "In exchange for this freedom, you will be giving the Syndicate sixty-six percent of your monthly gross revenue."</p>
<p>"That is before taxes, of course." The other twin, Kiki included.</p>
<p>That is a ridiculous offer! They want sixty-six percent of what they make monthly and leave them with scraps! This proposition was not only ridiculous but also downright offensive and Silas did not appreciate being offended.</p>
<p>"Listen, you french fuck—"</p>
<p>"Please," Loren interrupted him. "I am Belgian."</p>
<p>"So make yourself a fuckin' waffle." Johnny snapped at him. "Were done here."</p>
<p>Loren shook his head in disappointment that the meeting had not gone as he planned.</p>
<p>"Tsk. And I had so hoped to come to a rational business arrangement."</p>
<p>Loren motioned for one of his soldiers to come forward. A man walked up and pulled out a pistol and cocked it before pointing it at Silas.</p>
<p>Silas was not afraid. In fact, he chuckled at the situation.</p>
<p>"I thought you read all about me, Mr. Loren. You can pump me full of lead and it won't kill me. I survived a goddamn yacht explosion and so much more in my long life. This is going to do nothing to me."</p>
<p>"I have done my research. Which is why he has rounds of silver bullets in his gun."</p>
<p>Silas wasn't feeling so confident anymore. Silver bullets are not as deadly to him as they would for the average werewolf but they still do more damage than a regular lead bullet would do to him.</p>
<p>The Morningstar pressed the cold barrel of the pistol against Silas' forehead. Johnny and Shaundi looked at him with worry.</p>
<p>"It turns out, silver is not a good material for bullets." Loren said as he paced around the Saints. "Silver is too soft, making it a poor choice for ammunition. However, I think at this distance, the bullet will do what I need—"</p>
<p>Johnny did not let Loren finish his sentence. The second in command had miraculously managed to rip the seat from the plane's floor and charged at the gunman. The impact knocked the gun out of the Morningstar and ultimately, snapping the cuffs restraining his hands.</p>
<p>The gunman tried to punch Johnny but Gat caught the fist in one hand and punched him hard with the other. After the second punch to the face, the bloodied Morningstar was out cold.</p>
<p>Johnny got up and focused his attention on Loren who stood on the other side of the room.</p>
<p>Silas tried his hardest to break the silver cuffs but he just couldn't. The metal kept digging into his skin, making him bleed as he kept trying to pull them apart.</p>
<p>With a deep breath, Silas let out a loud roar and used all of his strength to break the cuffs, ignoring the searing pain of the silver cutting into his skin.</p>
<p>Finally, with a metallic clink, the cuffs snapped apart and in that instant, he began to feel better from being away from the wolfsbane laced cuffs. But just as he had gotten his freedom, the remaining Morningstar in the room began to charge at him and Shaundi. With Shaundi still restrained, Silas made to cover her from their attacks.</p>
<p>One of them pointed their assault rifle at him and was nearing to pull the trigger but Silas was much faster and grabbed the man's hands and aimed the gun at the incoming Morningstar, letting the bullets hit them. One by one the Morningstar fell as the bullets struck them.</p>
<p>When all of them were down, Silas grabbed the gun from the Morningstar's hand and whacked him over the head with it, knocking him out and tossed the now empty gun and walked over to Shaundi and released her from her cuffs. Unlike him, she wore a regular pair, making it easier for him to break apart.</p>
<p>"Are you okay?" She asked Silas and took a look at his bloodied wrist.</p>
<p>"I'll be fine." He told her and helped her up.</p>
<p>The two then turned to watch the fight between Johnny and Loren.</p>
<p>"Do you think we should help him?" Shaundi asked as she rubbed her wrists.</p>
<p>Silas shook his head as he watched his friend enjoy the first real fight he's had in a long time. Johnny took on a few more Morningstar and pummeled each of them until there was none left between him and Loren.</p>
<p>"Nah. I think Johnny's good."</p>
<p>Stepping over the unconscious Morningstar, Johnny walked over to Loren and took a swing at him. To his surprise, Loren swiftly bobbed out of the way and to the shock of everyone, stabbed Johnny with a hidden blade.</p>
<p>Silas would have jumped in as soon as he saw what happened but the stab wound did not seem to deter Johnny one bit. In fact, Johnny took the blade out and rammed Loren and into the nearby wall and smashed Loren's face through the window.</p>
<p>Loren roared in pain and covered his bleeding face.</p>
<p>The deafening roar of the wind muffled their ears as the plane began to fly erratically. Silas held onto Shaundi and covered her from the debris flying through the cabin.</p>
<p>Silas glanced up to see an injured Loren being rushed away by the twin sisters to another room on the other side of the cabin while Johnny kicked an incoming Morningstar in the balls and then punched him in the face, knocking him out.</p>
<p>Just as the sisters and Loren made it to the door, it flung open with one of the pilot's rushing out with a gun at hand. Loren shoved the pilot out of the way and closed the door.</p>
<p>"What the hell is going on—"</p>
<p>Johnny threw Loren's blade at the pilot, getting him in between the eyes. The impact flung the pilot's head back before he collapsed onto the floor.</p>
<p>"Boss, you and Shaundi gotta bail! I'll hold them off!" Johnny bellowed over the roar of the wind as they flew hundreds of miles in the air.</p>
<p>"What!" Silas yelled back at him. "No way! I'm not leaving you here alone!"</p>
<p>One of the doors swung open and in came more Morningstar rushing into the room shooting in every direction.</p>
<p>Silas Johnny and Shaundi ran for cover behind the desk while the bullets flew around them.</p>
<p>"Still want us to leave you behind?" Silas asked him sarcastically as he pressed his back against the desk.</p>
<p>"There's like what? Half a dozen guys?" Johnny retorted with a smile. He was really enjoying this. "I can take them!"</p>
<p>Of course, Johnny thought he could take them on and normally, Silas would let his second in command have his fun but this was a completely different situation.</p>
<p>"What about the plane?" a worried Shaundi asked Johnny.</p>
<p>"What about the plane? I'll just fly it back to Stilwater." Johnny glanced to the side of the desk to see where all the Morningstar were shooting from before quickly returning his head back behind the desk just in time before a bullet hit the desk where his head was moments before.</p>
<p>"Johnny, you can't even drive stick!" Shaundi exclaimed at her friend's ridiculous plan. "How are you gonna fly a goddamn plane?"</p>
<p>"Details, details." Johnny told her as if this pretty important part of the plan was not a big deal. "Just cover the boss."</p>
<p>Shaundi was hesitant as was Silas who did not feel right about leaving his friend behind.</p>
<p>"Go! I got this!"</p>
<p>Before either of them could protest, Johnny shot up from his spot and charged at the closest Morningstar and grabbed his assault rifle from his hands and shot him with it and then moved on to the others, giving Silas and Shaundi a brief window to make a run for it to the next room.</p>
<p>When they were in the clear, Silas turned back to grab Johnny only to see Johnny give him a quick smirk and slammed the door shut.</p>
<p>Silas was angry at Johnny for doing this solo but there was nothing he could do about it now. Johnny has been in bad predicaments and survived them. He just hopes that this will be another one. His main focus now is to get himself and Shaundi to safety and clear the rest of the plane for Johnny to safely fly it back to Stilwater.</p>
<p>"We have to go back and help Johnny!" Shaundi worriedly told Silas and tried to open the door. Silas held her back as she tried to resist but it was no use as he was far stronger.</p>
<p>"Hey, Gat can take care of himself." he calmly assured her. The door to the other side of the room opened and three Morningstars came in with guns raised and aimed at them. "We gotta deal with these guys. Stay behind, I got them."</p>
<p>Silas raised his hands as if surrendering and calmly walked toward them.</p>
<p>"Stay back." the closest one said in a thick French accent and kept the gun raised at Silas who ignored his command.</p>
<p>Silas smiled at him and clenched his hands into a fist for a moment and flicked them open, revealing long and sharp animal-like nails on each of his fingers.</p>
<p>The Morningstar stared at the sight in shock and became even more terrified with Silas' facial change.</p>
<p>They began to shoot but Silas' supernatural speed proved to be much faster and ran at them, going for the closest one to him.</p>
<p>Silas ran at the closest one and swung his right hand as if he was about to uppercut the man except he did not clench his fists. Rather, he stabbed the man with his claws in the gut and pierced as far as his knuckles into the soft flesh.</p>
<p>The Morningstar stared at him, wide-eyed and frighted, gurgling blood that spewed out of his partially open mouth.</p>
<p>The other two saw what had happened and began to shoot at Silas but he raised the Morningstar he had and used him as a shield before tossing the now dead body at one of them, knocking him over and ran at the only one left standing and slashed his throat. The Morningstar fell to his knees, holding onto his neck as if it would stop the bleeding but only more blood poured out and moments later, he collapsed to the ground in the pool of his own blood.</p>
<p>Silas then walked over to the Morningstar that fell when he tossed the first guy on him now trying to crawl away. Silas could see his leg was broken. Having over two hundred pounds unexpectedly thrown at you and knock you down could do that to you.</p>
<p>Silas kicked the man's broken leg, eliciting a pained scream that made him turn around and raise his hands.</p>
<p>"Please...don't kill me." he tearfully begged him.</p>
<p>Silas stared at him, seeing the fear in his eyes. Maybe it was the humanity in him or it could be the race against time but he decided to cut the guy some slack since he asked so nicely.</p>
<p>Turning his face back to normal, Silas crouched down and lifted the Morningstar's head by his hair.</p>
<p>"Stay. Down." Silas said to him with a menacing tone in his voice and took his gun. The morningstar vigorously shook his head and Silas let him go and stepped over him.</p>
<p>Static could be heard as the plane's intercoms came to life and Johnny's voice came through.</p>
<p>"Attention passengers this is your new captain speaking. Our updated has us landing in Stilwater."</p>
<p>Silas couldn't help but chuckle at his friend enjoying the first real excitement they had these last few years.</p>
<p>Then he heard an angry man speaking some french and Johnny struggling for a moment before returning back to the intercom.</p>
<p>"I'd like to remind all passengers to remain seated and enjoy the flight."</p>
<p>"Oh great, who gave Gat a mic?" Silas laughed with Shaundi.</p>
<p>"GET THIS DOOR OPEN!" they heard the Morningstar yell back at Johnny.</p>
<p>"I can see some of our passengers are getting restless." Said Johnny calmly. "Here's some relaxing music for your enjoyment."</p>
<p>Easy listening was soon playing throughout the plane as well as more fighting on Gat's end.</p>
<p>"My apologies, your captain is having trouble finding the clutch…"</p>
<p>Shaundi walked over to Silas and took the gun from his outstretched hand. Shaundi did not care about Silas' violent nature. They lived violent lives and sometimes you had to do what needed to be done. She did not feel the least bit remorseful for these men. They were the enemy and they would have killed them if they had the chance.</p>
<p>"Won't you need a gun?" She asked him as she checked the ammo in the weapon. "We don't know how many more we are left."</p>
<p>Silas cleaned off his bloody claws by sucking off the blood from each finger, enjoying the taste of the blood in his mouth.</p>
<p>"I think I am good with these." he smiled and told her as he moved his clawed fingers around. "Are you ready?"</p>
<p>He placed a hand on the door handle and when Shaundi nodded and aimed the gun, he carefully opened the door revealing the next room they had to go through.</p>
<p>"Holy shit!" Silas muttered as he looked out at the wide backend of the plane. Black cars with red stars and stacks of cargo lined the cargo bay area of the plane, leaving a zigzagging trail to the exit on the other side with more Morningstar soldiers patrolling each area. "That is a hell of a lot of stuff they have in here."</p>
<p>"Okay, what do you think we should do?" Shaundi asked as she looked down at the patrolling Morningstar.</p>
<p>"We need to get to the other side." Silas told her and pointed to the cargo bay doors opening for them, thanks to Johnny keeping an eye out on them. "Go grab some parachutes and head on out of this plane."</p>
<p>Shaundi nodded as she too gazed down at the Morningstar patrolling the cargo floor.</p>
<p>"How are we going to get to the other side without having them all swarm us?"</p>
<p>"I have an idea." Silas said to her and grabbed Shaundi's hand as he led her down the flight of stairs to the main floor.</p>
<p>Silas motioned for Shaundi to stay back when they came across the first Morningstar. Confused, Shaundi reluctantly agreed and stayed back while Silas moved forward.</p>
<p>The Morningstar did not seem to notice Silas' lingering presence behind him, giving the Saints leader an advantage that he was more than glad to use.</p>
<p>Tapping on the man's shoulder made the Morningstar jump around eliciting a brief yelp before Silas covered the man's mouth with one hand and grabbed his gun with the other and tossed it to the ground and pushed him against the wall of cargo.</p>
<p>The man struggled against Silas' powerful hold but the fight was futile.</p>
<p>"Shaundi, keep an eye out for me." Silas told her as he kept the man pinned.</p>
<p>Shaundi nodded and raised the gun for any unexpected pop-ups that might appear.</p>
<p>"Hey, look at me." Silas calmly told the man as he tried to catch his gaze to compel him. The key to compulsion was remaining calm on his end. To let everything go, to be a vacuum to pull this man's mind into his own and gain control.</p>
<p>The man kept moving his head until finally, Silas held a firm grip around his mouth to keep him still. "Look at me. I am not going to hurt you."</p>
<p>The man's wide frightened eyes finally made contact with Silas' gaze and slowly he began to calm. His body began to relax and his eyes had a glazy dreamy look to them as he stared back at Silas.</p>
<p>"Good." Silas smiled at him. "I am going to remove my hand and when I do, You will not scream. You will not speak unless I ask you a question. Do you understand?"</p>
<p>The man slowly nodded his head. Silas could feel the control he has over the man and knew he was good to go. This man gave in so easily it amused Silas because his compulsion was rusty as he ever rarely used it and even when he did he was hardly good at it. He was more likely to make the poor victim go mad for messing with his mind rather than control them. Back then, he would not have cared if it went either way.</p>
<p>Removing his hand from the man's mouth, Silas backed away a few steps but never broke his gaze from the Morningstar's blank stare.</p>
<p>"What's your name?" Silas asked the man.</p>
<p>"Bertrand." The Morningstar replied to him with a thick French accent.</p>
<p>"Bertrand." Silas repeated the name. "<em>Tu n'as rien a craindre. Je suis une amie." </em>(You have nothing to fear. I am a friend.)</p>
<p>Silas figured the man would be more compliant if he spoke to Bertrand in his language and he was correct.</p>
<p>"<em>Amie…" </em>(Friend…) Bertrand replied slowly.</p>
<p>"<em>C'est vrai! Amie." </em>(That's right! Friend.) Silas smiled. "<em>Mais j'ai des ennuis. les gens qui marchent dans cette zone essaient de me tuer." </em>(But I am in trouble. The people walking around the area are trying to kill me.)</p>
<p>The man's eyes were still glazed over but his expression began to change with the emotions Silas could feel from him. Bertrand was feeling worried for Silas and angry that someone was wanting to kill his 'friend'.</p>
<p>This is exactly what Silas wants, for the man to feel the need to protect him and kill those that stand between his and Shaundi's way of escape.</p>
<p>"<em>Bertrand, j'ai besoin que vous les tuiez tous. Pour me protéger." </em>(Bertrand, I need you to kill them all. To protect me.)</p>
<p>Bertrand nodded and cocked the gun in his hand before marching off to find the other Morningstars.</p>
<p>It wasn't long before they heard gunfire and the yells from the others as Bertrand shot them. Some of them were confused by Bertrand's actions before he shot them.</p>
<p>"Why am I not surprised that you know French?" Shaundi chuckled as she stood beside him. "We could have really used you for that interview in Paris because we were nearly kicked out of the country after Pierce tried to speak the language."</p>
<p>More gunshots could be heard further down the cargo area but Silas and Shaundi ignored it and let Bertrand do his job.</p>
<p>"I've been around for a while. Lived in a lot of places and picked up a few different languages on the way." Silas smiled at Shaundi. "It's really no big deal."</p>
<p>"Such a modest guy." Shaundi smiled back at him. "So, why didn't you just do this earlier to that Loren guy? It seems this would have been over much sooner if you had compelled him."</p>
<p>"The silver and wolfsbane would have nullified my abilities." He explained to her. "Also, I don't think his mind is weak enough to even be compelled. It would take some time to get through to him."</p>
<p>The gunfire ceased leaving only the roar of the plane engines as the main source of noise and the okay to go ahead.</p>
<p>Silas went first to make sure it was safe before leading Shaundi further through the cargo area.</p>
<p>"Jesus, look at all this stuff they're carrying." Silas said as he looked at the various Morningstar vehicles and walls of cargo packed and secured around them on top of pallets. "I guess they were already going to move into Stilwater, regardless of our response."</p>
<p>"What assholes." Shaundi shook her head before gazing at the dead bodies of the Morningstar that loitered the floor and Bertrand walked around to find any more enemies that might be hiding.</p>
<p>"Damn, I'm impressed with your compelling skills. He took them all out without question."</p>
<p>"Same." Silas sighed in relief that they don't have to worry about being shot at for the time being.</p>
<p>Walking up to Bertrand, Silas gave the compelled man a pat on the back.</p>
<p>"<em>Bravo, Bertrand. Tu as bien fait." </em>(Well done, Bertrand. You have done well.)</p>
<p>Bertrand smiled at the praise but after that, Silas immediately swung his arm back and punched the compelled man in the face, knocking him out cold.</p>
<p>Now, nothing stood in their way of leaving the plane. "I'll get the parachutes. Go tell Johnny we're gonna jump."</p>
<p>Shaundi nodded and made her way to the intercom on the wall.</p>
<p>"Johnny, we're about to jump!" Shaundi hollered over the loud wind coming from the open loading door.</p>
<p>The intercom crackled back to life and the two can hear Johnny was in the middle of a fight.</p>
<p>"Right on." They heard Johnny's haggard voice. "I see you in Stil—"</p>
<p>Silas felt like his heart stopped for a moment when he heard the round of gunshots through the intercom that interrupted Johnny.</p>
<p>There was a moment of silence between Silas and Shaundi as they both looked in shock at each other before Shaundi turned back to the intercom and pressed the button to talk.</p>
<p>"Johnny?" Shaundi's quivering voice called out to their friend but no answer came through.</p>
<p>Silas could not believe that Johnny was dead. Johnny could not die...he is Johnny fucking Gat!</p>
<p>Shaundi continued to press on the intercom button and called out to Johnny but no response came through.</p>
<p>Silas considered going back to the other side of the plane to check to be sure but before he could make a move, the plane began to jerk around in the air, making the two stumble around as they tried to remain standing.</p>
<p>The plane was getting worse and began to lean to one side, making everything that was not secured tumble over and, even worse, tumble toward them.</p>
<p>Silas' sensed a sudden danger coming toward him and turned around just in time to see a load of heavy crates rolling toward the open cargo door and he and Shaundi were in the path.</p>
<p>Reacting quickly, he pushed Shaundi out of the way but he was not quick enough to evade the incoming cargo and got the full brunt of the impact.</p>
<p>The first one knocked him off his feet and the others caused him to roll uncontrollably to the cargo door as they continued to make their way out of the plane.</p>
<p>Silas managed to stab his claws into the metal floor of the plane just as he slid off the plane. Now hanging off the back end of a plane thousands of feet in the air, Silas had to figure out how to get out of this mess.</p>
<p>He lifted his body up as best as he could with the strong winds around him trying to push him off the plane. Shaundi was relieved to see he managed to save himself from falling but the plane hit another bout of powerful turbulence that knocked her over and sent her rolling towards the open door.</p>
<p>With his fast reflexes, Silas caught her by her hand as her body bounced off the edge of the cargo door and into the cold gusty night air. He was relieved that he caught her and from the look on her face, Shaundi was as well. Unfortunately for them both, that relief was quickly cut short.</p>
<p>The sound of metal snapping and a loud deep groan of something heavy caught Silas' hearing that perked his ears to the sound. Turning back to the inside of the cargo bay, he could see the metal chains that secured the rest of the Morningstar cargo and vehicles were breaking under the stress of holding back the heavy items that pushed on them with all of their weight.</p>
<p>One by one, each car broke through their restraints and rolled toward Silas at an alarmingly fast rate.</p>
<p>Before he could detach his claws from the plane, one of the SUV's that was leading the charge of rolling cargo had hit him with enough force that knocked him out for a moment.</p>
<p>When Silas came to, his heart nearly pumped out of his chest when he realized that he was free-falling and that Shaundi was no longer in his grasp.</p>
<p>Looking down, he found Shaundi falling through the air along with all the cargo that was in the plane.</p>
<p>Wanting to fall faster to catch Shaundi and open the parachute to safely fall back to the ground, Silas began to straighten his body.</p>
<p>Then, he felt a jolt and then his body turned upward to see a group of Morningstar falling toward him with guns aimed at him with one of them holding Silas by his neck attempting to strangle him.</p>
<p>The situation would be funny if Silas was not falling at high speeds thousands of feet in the air and was racing against time to get to Shaundi before she dies.</p>
<p>Silas grabbed a hold of the Morningstars hands and with a quick flick of his wrists, snapped both of the man's hands back, breaking them both.</p>
<p>The morningstar screamed in agony as Silas held on to the man to cover himself from the rain of bullets that were showering down on them.</p>
<p>When Silas no longer felt the bullets penetrating the now dead man's body, he tossed the corpse to fall with the other items and used this opportunity to fight back.</p>
<p>Leaning to the left, Silas sailed closer to a falling crate and grabbed ahold to the side of it and pulled his body closer and then proceeded to climb on top of it.</p>
<p>It took a lot of effort to stay standing on the crate and even more so when he crouched to get himself ready to jump onto the next one not far above him.</p>
<p>When the moment came, Silas launched himself into the air and landed on another crate. The Morningstar tried to shoot them but sailing through the air made their aim much worse than it already was. However, with four guns shooting at him, some bullets were bound to hit him and he needed to make sure that did not happen.</p>
<p>With their guns reloaded they began to shoot at him and Silas used whatever he could to protect himself.</p>
<p>One of the falling crates had opened during the fall and spewed the artillery of assault rifles it carried that now fell with them. Silas caught one of the falling weapons and chucked it hard at one of the Morningstar and made contact with his arm. The impact forced the Morningstar to jerk to the side and in doing so had caused him to shoot at the other Morningstar beside him in the chest.</p>
<p>The dead Morningstar spun erratically as he flew away from the group as did the injured one who lost control and ended up sailing away, leaving only the other two for Silas to deal with.</p>
<p>Silas hopped onto the hood of a falling car and quickly launched himself onto another as bullets shot where he had stood.</p>
<p>Jumping from one surface to the next was proving to be quite a difficult feat for him. If the bullets or debris weren't making him constantly change his direction or stall him, he was barely landing on each surface. A few times he would miss the surface only to latch onto it with his claws and climb up.</p>
<p>He did not know how long he could keep this up. He did not feel like he was getting any closer to the last two and he still needed to get to Shaundi who was still free falling.</p>
<p>Quickly turning around on the surface he landed on, Silas smashed through the wooden crate and grabbed one of the many guns and ammo it carried and with his supernatural speed, loaded the gun and held down the trigger, spraying bullets at the remaining Morningstar.</p>
<p>They tried to scatter and avoid the bullets but that proved harder when you're free-falling and ended up getting shot with the entire clip.</p>
<p>The lifeless bullet-riddled bodies of the Morningstar floated away, giving Silas a bit of relief that he did not have to worry about being shot anymore but now, he had to worry about catching up with Shaundi who was already pretty far below.</p>
<p>Waiting for an opening, Silas dived off the surface he was on and sailed through the air with his body straightened to give him more speed as he maneuvered through the heavy debris that threatened to hit him. A few times he had to push some crates and even a car out or his way to continue his descent.</p>
<p>Finally, the debris gave way to an empty space that only Shaundi was occupying and Silas quickly sailed down to her.</p>
<p>As soon as he was close enough, Silas scooped her in his arms and held her tightly with one hand while the other pulled the string that released the parachute and allowed them to finally sail safely through the sky.</p>
<p>Shaundi held onto Silas tightly as she glanced around her and finally began to relax knowing that she was safe.</p>
<p>Looking up at him, she had an expression of relief at seeing Silas had not only gotten out safely but caught her as well.</p>
<p>"I'm not gonna lie. For a minute I didn't think you were going to make it in time" Shaundi said breathlessly.</p>
<p>"Are you kidding me?!" A smiling Silas yelled over the roaring wind and distant rumble of thunder. "I'd never let my best girl fall—"</p>
<p>Silas' sense picked up the danger, like a shock of static electricity that forced him to turn around and sure enough, his eyes caught sight of the danger. The plane he and Shaundi had just fought their way through was coming toward at an alarmingly fast speed.</p>
<p>"Oh fuck me." He said to himself. Shaundi overheard him and followed his gaze to the plane as well which quickly widened at the sight.</p>
<p>"Is it just me or does that plane look like it is gonna try to ram us?" Shaundi asked him.</p>
<p>"I'm going with the ladder." Silas replied as he tried to come up with a plan. There was only one idea that came to mind and he knew Shaundi was not going to like it. "Okay, don't freak out but—"</p>
<p>"Don't freak out?!" Shaundi shrieked at him. "Whaddya mean don't freak out? Do you have a plan?"</p>
<p>Silas nodded. "Yeah, I crash through the window and land in the plane, kill Phillipe, then jump out the back again…"</p>
<p>Silas had to admit, saying the plan out loud sounded ridiculous but it was the only thing he could think of doing.</p>
<p>"You mean "we" right?" Shaundi asked him with a tone of suspicion in her voice.</p>
<p>Silas gave a look of guilt as he explained to her what needed to be done.</p>
<p>"Look, just remember how happy you were when I caught you…"</p>
<p>The plane was getting much too close to them now and he needed to act fast. It was now or never.</p>
<p>Quickly turning around, Silas tossed a frantic looking Shaundi out of his grasp and back into the air once more, screaming the word Asshole at him that grew fainter as she disappeared into the darkness. She was going to hate him for a while but he'll make it up to her somehow.</p>
<p>Turning his attention back to the plane, he prepared himself for the impact. Suddenly, the plane was not feeling so sound to him.</p>
<p>"Crash through the window and land in the plane...what the fuck was I thinking?" he said to himself as the plane got closer and he angled himself to where he would make contact with the window.</p>
<p>Releasing the parachute just in time, Silas gained enough power to break through the strong glass of the window in the cockpit and sailed through the rest of the plane.</p>
<p>The few Morningstar that remained in the plane looked at the sailing Saint leader in confusion before he smacked them with a fist as he made his way to the back of the plane.</p>
<p>The cargo area had one more Morningstar left and, lucky for Silas, had a parachute and prepared to jump.</p>
<p>Hearing the commotion in the plane, the Morningstar turned around to see Silas quickly flying toward him. Before he could shoot him, Silas tackled the Morningstar out of the plane, causing him to fall along with him.</p>
<p>The two struggled in the air. Silas wanted the man's parachute and the Morningstar wanted to be free of the Saints leader. The Morningstar was throwing punches at Silas but they all proved futile as they did little to no damage to him and he seemed to notice that as well and decided to do something different.</p>
<p>The Morningstar went around behind Silas and wrapped his arms tightly around Silas' neck and began to apply pressure in the hopes of choking him. Again, a futile attempt. All it did was piss Silas off.</p>
<p>Silas slammed his head back against the Morningstars as hard as he could. The impact had the Morningstar release Silas' neck but he had still held on to Silas' torso.</p>
<p>"Get the fuck off of me!" Silas roared and began to elbow the guy's head. Three hits were enough for the now dazed guy to release Silas but the Saints leader made sure to grab the guy's parachute before letting him fall.</p>
<p>Taking off the old pack from his back, Silas slipped on the new one and proceeded to fly down to catch Shaundi once more.</p>
<p>Once he caught her in his arms again and she grabbed on to him tightly, Silas released the new parachute that allowed them to safely sail away from the descending plane and all the cargo that fell from it.</p>
<p>Silas glanced at Shaundi who glared at him before she slapped him in the face. He had to admit that stung but he deserved it.</p>
<p>"OW!" he yelped as he endured the stinging pain.</p>
<p>"That's for being a fucking asshole!" She yelled at him.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I know. I deserve that." He agreed.</p>
<p>Shaundi then proceeded to hug him tightly around his neck. An act that surprised him since he figured Shaundi was still very pissed off with him.</p>
<p>"I'm grateful for the hug but what is it for?" He asked her.</p>
<p>"For catching me. Twice." She answered.</p>
<p>"As I said, I would never let my best girl fall." he said with a smile. The smile, though, quickly faltered. He might have saved one of his Lieutenants but he still lost one. Phillipe Loren is going to pay for what he did to Johnny Gat.</p>
<p>
  <strong>xXx</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>xXx</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Morningstar HQ</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>Phillipe Loren was fuming the entire trip back to Steelport, from the time he Viola and Kiki were picked up from where they landed in the city to the car ride until finally, he calmed down as they got into the building and rode the elevator back to his Penthouse.</p>
<p>As expected after making the call on their way to the building, their on-call doctor, Dr. Eric Grome, was already waiting for Phillipe to tend to his wounded face with his instruments laid out and ready on the large desk.</p>
<p>After cleaning out and stitching up the wounds, the doctor finished up by fitting Phillipe with an eye patch and prescription of antibiotics and painkillers for him.</p>
<p>"How is his eyesight going to be?" A worried Viola asked as Dr. Grome packed all of his equipment into his bag. Kiki was over at the bar area mixing Loren a drink as he asked of her.</p>
<p>She had a right to be worried. If word got out to others in the Syndicate, especially to that opportunist, Killbane, that Loren possibly cannot lead, he would most likely form a mutiny and try to take him out and claim leadership, something that he has been discreetly (but not discreetly enough if Phillipe knows about it) saying since her boss collected him and his Luchadores.</p>
<p>"He'll be fine." Grome assured her, much to Viola's relief. "Aside from the few scars he is going to have, Mr. Loren has a corneal abrasion that will heal in a few days and a couple of popped blood vessels that will take a couple of weeks to heal as well but nothing life-threatening. He will need to wear the eye patch for a while though to let it heal."</p>
<p>Viola sighed in relief, thankful that her boss is still good. For now. She knows that this will not be the last they deal with the Saints. Both her boss and their boss will see to it. When she heard over the party radio that only Silas and Shaundi escaped, she knew that they will come for them to seek revenge for Johnny Gat.</p>
<p>She knew it wasn't a good idea to go after the Saints. They were too powerful and after being informed about Silas, she knew it was downright dangerous. It was one thing to go after a gang but a gang lead by a goddamn werewolf-vampire hybrid was something only a suicidal person would do but Phillipe was insistent on having such a dangerous creature under his command and claimed the reward would be worth it.</p>
<p>Viola did not believe it at first not until Silas had shown his true face on the plane. She had no idea that this whole other species lived amongst them and now, they were targets to one of the most dangerous creatures of that species, according to what she has been told.</p>
<p>The thought of being a target to such a creature sent a shiver down her spine. She did not want to get anymore into the Saints crosshairs than they already are but Phillipe was going to continue to hit hard at the Saints until they were all dead. If he cannot have them, he will destroy them, that is her boss' mentality.</p>
<p>After Viola paid the doctor for his work and escorted him to the elevator, Phillipe, now sporting his new eyepatch and smoking a cigarette at his desk, had called for her to contact the other leaders of the Syndicate before stepping back beside her sister behind Loren.</p>
<p>Immediately she called them and after a few moments, their faces appeared on the giant screen on the wall where the screen split in two revealing Matt Miller and Killbane in their respective headquarters.</p>
<p>"Gentlemen, negotiations were...less than successful." Loren admitted to them. "Now, a potential ally has become our number one enemy so I will have Viola and Kiki spread the word: Steelport belongs to the Syndicate and the Saints are not welcome."</p>
<p>Loren turned his attention to Killbane first.</p>
<p>"Mr. Killbane, gather your Luchadores and bring me their leader's head. He is a tough one, I admit but I have faith that you and your men can handle the job."</p>
<p>Killbane nodded his head and cracked his knuckles with a smirk.</p>
<p>"No problem. My boys will have this puny guy pinned in no time."</p>
<p>Viola fought the urge to roll her eyes and did her best to keep a professional look while in the presence of the other leaders, as Loren told her and her sister to do. Their job is to watch how everything works so that when the time comes, he will hand them the position.</p>
<p>Phillipe truly understated the danger of Silas to Killbane that will surely not go well for the muscle of the Syndicate, Viola can already predict that.</p>
<p>Phillipe then turned slightly to face Matt Miller, the tech man of their organization.</p>
<p>"Mr. Miller, hack into all of the Saints accounts and leave them with nothing. I don't want them to have any advantage while they are in <em>my</em> city. Is that understood?"</p>
<p>The young man gave Phillipe a quick nod. Matt might be a leader of a gang and a self-proclaimed tech god but he was afraid of any confrontation that he could not handle behind a keyboard and monitor.</p>
<p>"Of course, Mr. Loren. I will have it done right away."</p>
<p>Matt was very afraid of Phillipe and did everything he was asked of him in fear of any...correcting.</p>
<p>"The Saints might be our greatest threat to our organization so I will need everyone to work around the clock to ensure that the leader is eliminated but that their little street gang is taken down beyond repair. After we are done, the Saints will never rise again!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, I was not planning on ending the chapter with a Viola POV but when I was polishing up the chapter, I decided that since she is going to play a bigger role in the story than she did in the game, she should get more parts. I can come up with a bit of a backstory for her and her family as well as her time working with Loren and so on and so forth. luckily we do not know much about these characters which leaves a lot of space for us writers to use our imagination and fill because I have some ideas for her backstory that should be pretty interesting.</p>
<p>One last thing I want to say before I end this chapter, if you all are interested in my Hybrid OC and want to see him in more stories, then you are in luck because I have stories in various fandoms lined up for him. So far, it seems like Twilight Harry Potter Trueblood and The Witcher are what I am working on for the OC as well as updating and continuing my Teen Wolf story. So keep a lookout for these stories when they get posted.</p>
<p>Alright, I think I have said all that needs to be said. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a review or message me and I will respond as quickly as I can and for those that want to be alerted for when a new story or chapter is posted, make sure to follow and/or add me or my stories to your favorites.</p>
<p>Until next time!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All righty guys, that was the first chapter of The Demon Wolf of Steelport and I really hope you enjoyed the chapter.</p>
<p>If you guys have any questions or comments, please leave a review or message me and I will respond as soon as I can.</p>
<p>I hope you all stay safe and stay inside and until next time, See ya!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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